Z733 
P417P3 


Opening   of  the    Bechstein   germanic 
library.      Addresses,.. 


Pennsylvania.      University  Libr    ^v 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


'A  'N  '»«n>tj*s 


OPENING 


OF  THE 


Bechstein  Germanic  Library 


ADDRESSES 


University  of  Pennsylvania 


March  21,  1896 


OPENING 


OF  THE 


Bechstein  Germanic  Library 


ADDREvSSES 


University  of  Pennsylvania 


March  21,  1896 


PRESS  OF  AUSTIN  C.  LEEDS 
817  FILBERT  STREET 
PHILADELPHIA 


SPEAKERS 


PROVOST  CHARLES  C.  HARRISON 

Jos.   G.  ROSENGARTEN,   ESQ.,  Chairman 

HON.  GEO.  F.  BAER,  of  Reading,  Pa. 

REV.  DR.  ADOLPH  SPAETH,  of  Mt.  Airy  Theological  Seminary 

DR.  GOTTLIEB  KELLNER,  of  the  "  Philadelphia  Demokrat  " 

DR.  M.  D.  LEARNED,  Professor  of  German  in  the  University 


HONORARY  RECEPTION  COMMITTEE 


HON.  CHARLES  F.  WARWICK,  Chairman 

Rev.  Dr.  G.  D.  Boardman  Gregory  B.  Keen 

Eugene  Ellicott  Rudolph  Koradi 

Herman  Fischler  Arno  L,eonhardt 

W.  W.  Frazier  Carl  Theodor  Mayer 

Dr.  Albert  Fricke  Charles  Meyer 

Vice-Provost  G.  S.  Fullerton  Joseph  Morwitz 

Dr.  Horace  Howard  Furness  Hon.  S.  W.  Pennypacker 

Joseph  S.  Harris  Julius  F.  Sasche 

Professor  John  B.  Hertzog  John  Clarke  Sims 

Dr.  Morris  Jastrow,  Jr.  Hon.  Mayer  Sulzberger 

Herman  Jonas  Gen.  Louis  Wagner 
Edmund  Wolsieffer 


525752 


THE  BECHSTEIN  GERMANIC  LIBRARY 


The  nucleus  of  the  Bechstein  collection  consists  of  the 
library  of  the  late  Professor  Reinhold  Bechstein,  of  the 
University  of  Rostock.  Professor  Bechstein' s  early  asso- 
ciations with  his  father,  Ludwig  Bechstein,  for  many  years 
the  Librarian  at  Meiningen,  gave  him  a  peculiar  schooling 
in  the  art  of  collecting  books,  and  his  library  bears  marks 
of  this  training. 

The  collection  made  by  Professor  Bechstein  has  been 
supplemented  by  the  purchase  of  other  valuable  works 
relating  to  German,  and  contains,  in  its  present  enlarged 
form,  about  15,000  volumes  and  3,000  pamphlets,  classified 
as  follows  : 

1.  Periodicals,  Works  of  Reference,  Collective  Series 

2.  General  Works  relating  to  German  Philology  and 

Literature 

3.  Histories  of  German  Literature  in  general 

4.  German  Antiquities,  Culture  and  Folk-lore 

5.  German  Language,  Dialects,  Metrics,  and  Names 

6.  Gothic,  Norse,  Old  High  German  and  Middle  High 

German  Literature 

7.  German  Literature  from  1500  to  1750 

8.  Modern  German  Literature 

The  collection  is  rich  in  standard  and  critical  editions  of 
German  writers  of  all  the  periods,  in  great  works  of  refer- 
ence, in  large  library  series,  such  as  the  Bibliothek  des 
Litterarischen  Vereins  in  Stuttgart,  and  in  rare  old  prints, 
such  as  the  Heussler  Folio  Edition  of  Hans  Sachs,  and  con- 
temporaneous prints  of  Luther's  works,  with  the  Reformer's 
autograph.  The  literature  of  the  classical  period  of  the 
eighteenth  century  is  well  represented,  comprising  the 
Weimar  edition  of  Goethe,  Suphan's  Herder,  and  others. 

Two  special  features  of  the  collection  make  it  peculiarly 
valuable  as  a  working  library,  viz  : 

1 .  A  full  series  of  periodicals  relating  to  Germanic  studies, 
consisting  of  about  fifty  complete  sets  of  reviews  and  publi- 
cations of  learned  societies. 

2.  The  unique  Handapparat  of  Professor  Bechstein,  con- 
taining about  three  thousand  pamphlets  treating  of  German 
philology  and  literature. 


OF 


PROVOST  CHARLES  C.  HARRISON. 


Ladies  and  Gentlemen  : 

It  is  my  happy  lot,  this  afternoon,  not  to  make 
an  address,  but  to  introduce  the  Chairman  of  the 
meeting,  Mr.  Rosengarten,  who  will  take  charge  of 
the  proceedings.  But  before  doing  so,  I  may  be 
allowed  to  say  a  few  words. 

We  are  indebted  for  the  Bechstein  Library  of 
Germanic  languages  and  literature  not  only  to  the 
liberality  of  the  contributors ;  but,  it  is  reasonable 
to  say,  to  the  interest  and  energy  of  Professor 
Learned.  After  he  had  been  called  from  Johns 
Hopkins  University  to  the  Chair  made  vacant  by 
the  death  of  Dr.  Seiden sticker,  and  before  he  had 
entered  upon  his  duties,  Professor  Learned  was  upon 
the  alert  to  secure  adequate  library  facilities.  It 
was  his  earnestness  and  interest  which  at  the  start 
drove  us  to  undertake  the  purchase  of  this  library. 

Of  course  the  equipment  of  one  Department  will 
throw  upon  us  the  duty  and  necessity  of  taking  up 
and  supplying  the  needs  of  other  Departments,  for 
we  are  weak  at  many  points.  We  are  all  members 
of  the  same  body,  and  growth  in  one  direction 


means  growth  in  another,  if  there  is  a  true  pro- 
portion to  be  maintained.  It  will  not  do  to  be  strong 
in  Germanics  and  weak  in  Romance  Philology,  or  in 
English.  This  is  evident  of  itself,  but  the  need  of 
symmetrical  development  is  seen  to  be  a  pressing 
one  when  we  consider  that  graduate  students  work 
for  their  degree  upon  three  subjects.  We  must  also 
face  the  practical  fact  that  those  who  go  from  our 
Graduate  School  to  teach,  do  not  always,  and  do  not 
often,  find  positions  where  they  have  charge  of  but 
one  subject.  In  the  Colleges  and  Schools,  two  and 
sometimes  more  subjects  are  put  in  the  charge  of  a 
single  teacher,  and  he  must  have  fit  preparation  for 
the  entire  field  of  his  work.  We  must,  therefore, 
look  forward  to  the  acquisition  of  new  libraries  on 
special  subjects,  following  the  purchase  of  the 
Bechstein  collection. 

It  seems  to  me  peculiarly  appropriate  that  there 
should  be  in  Pennsylvania,  and  permanently  housed 
at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  a  great  Library 
relating  to  the  German  peoples.  Of  the  thirteen 
colonies,  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  was  the  only 
one  where  the  knowledge  of  two  languages  was 
necessary  to  understand  the  life  and  the  history  and 
to  take  part  in  the  affairs  of  the  colony.  At  one 
time,  three-fifths  of  the  population  of  Penns}4vania 
were  German.  For  seven  years,  the  ancient  lan- 
guages were  taught  at  the  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania through  the  medium  of  German.  We  of 
Pennsylvania  are  indebted  to  the  Germans  not  only 
for  help  in  our  agriculture,  but  we  are  indebted  to 
them  for  many  of  our  industrial  habits  and  pursuits; 
for  at  the  time  of  the  first  immigration, — which, 
indeed,  was  influenced  by  the  direct  invitation  of 


William  Penn, — Germany  was  a  farming  coun- 
try ;  and  we  have  profited  by  their  aid  not  only  in 
these  directions,  but  we  are  indebted  to  the  Germans 
for  much  of  our  early  scholarship.  These  are 
but  few  of  many  reasons,  to  which,  doubtless, 
reference  will  be  made  by  those  who  are  to  speak 
to-day,  of  the  fitness  of  the  proposed  work  at  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania  in  Germanics. 

Bvery  one  of  us  must  have  observed  within  the 
last  few  years  the  great  interest  which  Universities 
and  Colleges  are  arousing  in  the  public  mind.  More 
and  more  are  Universities  becoming  the  object 
of  private  benefaction ;  and  this  is  due  to  the  fact 
that  more  and  more  are  communities  beginning  to 
see  that  of  all  institutions,  Universities  are  the  most 
permanent,  excepting  only  the  church.  It  is 
curious  and  interesting  to  know  that  this  Library 
comes  from  the  University  of  Rostock,  which  was 
founded  before  America  was  discovered.  This  en- 
during character  of  our  Universities  affords  at  the 
same  time  the  evidence  of  their  necessity  and  the 
absorbing  purpose  of  those  who  work  for  them. 

I  wish,  on  behalf  of  the  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, to  bid  a  most  cordial  welcome  to  our  German- 
American  citizens.  We  ask  you  to  take  part  with 
us  in  the  life  and  purposes  of  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania ;  and  to  help  it  to  do  its  share  in 
directing  and  controlling  the  social  energies  of  the 
nation  in  which  we  are  placed. 

Can  we  appeal  to  any  body  of  men  who  have 
nobler  traditions  ?  Is  there  any  epoch  in  history 
more  stimulating  than  the  re-creation  of  Prussia, 
with  education  as  its  corner-stone,  after  the  deso- 
lating wars  of  Napoleon  ?  A  movement  started 


8 

then  which  has  been  continued  with  ever  fresh 
impulses  until  this  hour.  Very  earnestly  do  I  ask 
you  to  take  part  in  this  work  of  ours. 

I  wish  now  to  introduce  to  you  Mr.  Joseph  G. 
Rosengarten,  who  is  well  known  to  all  of  us.  For 
many  years  he  has  been  interested  in  our  work,  and 
the  least  that  I  can  say  of  him  is  that  he  was  the 
first  contributor  towards  the  purchase  of  the  Bech- 
stein  Library.  I  very  gladly  ask  him  to  preside 
over  the  meeting  to-day. 


ADDRESS 

OF 

MR.  J.  G.  ROSBNGARTBN. 


It  is  very  gratifying  to  mark  the  valuable 
addition  to  the  library  of  the  University,  presented 
to  it  to-day.  It  is  the  indication  of  the  growing 
interest  in  its  work  by  all  of  our  citizens.  Of 
course,  the  Germans  by  birth  and  descent  naturally 
feel  a  pride  in  equipping  the  University  with  the 
best  apparatus  of  German  literature.  Years  ago 
when  large  numbers  of  Germans"  came  to  Pennsyl- 
vania, there  was  a  good  deal  of  anxiety  as  to  the 
best  way  of  educating  them  in  Bnglish,  that 
they  might  become  good  citizens.  A  Society  to 
establish  schools  to  instruct  Germans  in  Bnglish 
was  in  active  existence  for  some  years.  Then  too, 
not  only  was  German  taught  in  the  old  College,  but 
later  in  the  new  University  there  were  complete 
courses  of  instruction  in  German.  The  experiment 
was  not  successful,  but  it  led  to  the  establishment 
of  what  is  to-day  Franklin  and  Marshall  College  of 
Lancaster,  which  was  to  do  for  our  Pennsylvania 
Germans  what  the  College  of  Philadelphia  and  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania  had  not  been  able  to  do. 
Then  the  German  Society  of  Philadelphia  establish- 
ed schools  where  newly-arrived  Germans  could 
be  taught  Bnglish  and  these  schools  are  still  doing 
their  work  very  acceptably. 


IO 


The  University  has  always  maintained  its  touch 
with  German  literature  through  its  succession  of 
excellent  and  able  professors  and  instructors.  The 
late  Professor  Seidensticker  wrote  many  useful 
contributions  to  the  better  knowledge  of  the  early 
history  of  Germans  settled  in  Pennsylvania,  and 
he  also  secured  for  his  work  at  the  University  quite 
a  good  collection  of  the  best  German  authors.  The 
late  Professor  McElroy  obtained  for  the  University 
an  excellent  classical  library,  collected  by  a  German 
Professor,  and  it  is  a  valuable  adjunct  to  the  classic- 
al studies  in  the  University.  The  arrival  of  Pro- 
fessor Learned  was  followed  by  the  effort  to  secure 
for  his  use  a  valuable  Philological  Library  gathered 
by  a  German  scholar.  Appeal  was  made  to  our 
citizens  of  German  birth  and  descent,  and  their 
reply  was  a  generous  one, — their  help  was  supple- 
mented by  that  of  other  friends  of  the  University, 
and  the  result  is  to-day  this  formal  presentation. 
It  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  accept  the  invitation 
of  the  Provost  and  to  introduce  to  you  the  speakers. 
They  are  all  representative  men, — Mr.  Baer  is 
President  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  Franklin  and 
Marshall  College,  that  child  of  the  University,  and 
he  is  a  representative  of  the  Pennsylvania  German 
element  which  is  doing  so  much  to  advance  educa- 
tion and  culture  in  the  parts  of  the  State  settled  and 
still  occupied  by  the  descendents  of  German 
emigrants. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Spaeth  is  the  representative  of  that 
Lutheran  Church  which  has  always  been  in  touch 
with  the  University,  its  Pastors  have  always  had 
seats  in  the  Board  of  Trustees,  and  is  himself  an 
organ  of  German  learning  and  eloquence.  Dr.  Spaeth 


II 

may  well  endorse  the  value  and  importance  of 
this  German  Philological  Library  for  the  work  of 
education. 

Dr.  Kellner  represents  the  German  press,  one  of 
the  powerful  elements  in  maintaining  the  high 
standard  of  our  German  citizens  in  everything 
that  relates  to  public  interests  and  especially  to 
education.  He  will  be  followed  by  Professor  Learned, 
to  whose  suggestion  is  largely  due  this  addition  to 
the  tools  of  his  trade,  his  apparatus  for  the  in- 
struction he  gives  in  German,  for  that  is  no  longer 
merely  elementary  but  it  is  carried  on  to  a  knowledge 
of  the  wealth  of  the  German  language  and  litera- 
ture, and  its  value  and  importance  in  philological 
studies. 

The  occasion  is  one  of  great  interest,  marking 
the  renewal  of  the  relation  between  the  University 
and  the  German  stock  of  our  city,  and  thus  adding 
one  more  to  its  claims  on  the  support  of  the  public 
in  its  growing  work. 


ADDRESS 

OF 
HON.  GEORGE  F.  BAER. 


Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen  : 

The  University  of  Pennsylvania  is  to  be  congratu- 
lated on  the  wise  judgment  displayed  in  the 
purchase  of  Professor  Bechsteins'  Library.  It  is 
most  fortunate  in  having  good  friends  to  provide  the 
required  funds.  The  acquisition  of  so  valuable  a 
collection  of  books,  and  the  placing  of  them  within 
the  reach  of  American  scholars,  is  in  itself  a  good 
work  and  worthy  to  be  commemorated. 

The  true  significance,  however,  is  in  the  fact  that 
it  is  an  earnest  on  the  part  of  this  great  and  flourish- 
ing University  that  the  Germanic  Department 
shall  be  a  real  and  active  factor  of  its  life,  and  not, 
as  is  too  often  the  case,  a  mere  oramental,  colorable 
adjunct. 

Germanic  history,  philosophy,  literature  and 
science,  are  justly  entitled  to  the  first  rank  in  the  cul- 
ture of  the  world.  No  one  aspiring  even  to  common- 
place scholarship  dare  ignore  them,  and  every  real 
scholar  finds  them  so  rich  and  instructive  that  their 
loss  to  him  would  be  incalculable.  But  when  we  come 
to  consider  the  stupendous  work  that  devolves  upon 
American  universities  as  the  creators  and  leaders 
of  American  thought,  the  acquisition  of  books  re- 


cording  the  progress  and  development  of  man 
without  limitation  as  to  race  or  language,  becomes 
specially  important.  The  problems  we  are  to  solve 
are  essentially  different  from  those  of  any  other 
nation.  We  represent  neither  unity  of  race,  history, 
policies  nor  traditions. 

Comparative  philology  has  demonstrated  with 
reasonable  certainty  that  the  Slavonic,  Romanic  and 
Teutonic  families  are  kindred ;  that  they  are  de- 
scended from  one  common  family,  which  in  prehis- 
toric times  lived  on  the  high  table-lands  of  Asia;  that 
long  years  ago  they  migrated  westward  and  south- 
ward, and  in  the  course  of  time  developed  into  many 
distinct  peoples,  creating  new  languages,  habits 
and  traditions  by  which  they  became  strangers  to 
each  other.  When  the  cultured  Greek,  400  years 
before  Christ,  in  the  time  of  Alexander  the  Great, 
discovered  at  the  mouth  of  the  Rhine,  a  strange  and 
barbarous  people,  he  had  no  conception  that  the 
Greek  and  the  Barbarian  had  a  common  origin,  nor 
the  prophetic  instinct  to  foretell  that  these  barbarous 
peoples  would  eventually  become  conquering  nations 
and  develop  the  marvelous  civilization  which  dawns 
upon  us  to-day.  The  original  wandering  from  the 
plains  of  Asia  marked,  so  far  as  we  know,  the  first 
epoch  in  the  dispersion  of  the  human  race. 

The  second  epoch  occurred  within  historic  times.  It 
covers  the  4th,  5th  and  6th  Centuries  of  the  Chris- 
tian era,  and  is  known  as  the  Folk-wandering.  The 
movement  was  again  from  the  east  to  the  west. 
"  The  populous  north  poured  from  her  frozen  loins 
a  mighty  host,  which,  spreading  with  irresistible 
power  over  the  whole  of  Burope,  overthrew  dynas- 
ties, conquered  kingdoms  and  changed  the  whole 


14 

course  of  human  history."  These  are  the  peoples 
we  now  call  Teutons.  They  were  divided  into  many 
tribes  with  distinctive  names.  As  Anglo-Saxons 
they  crossed  the  channel  and  conquered  Britain  • 
as  Franks  they  established  their  supremacy  in 
Gaul ;  as  Visigoths  they  possessed  themselves  of 
Spain ;  as  Lombards  they  became  the  masters  of 
Italy,  and  crossed  into  Africa.  How  in  the  inter- 
vening centuries  they  appropiated  Grecian  and 
Roman  civilization,  developed  new  States,  new 
forms  of  civilization  and  new  languages,  is  familiar 
to  us  all. 

In  modern  times  we  have  the  beginning  of  the 
third  epoch  of  wandering,  which  may  be  well  called 
the  American  epoch.  It  is  the  epoch  of  reunion. 
For  two  centuries  men  of  every  nation  have  flocked 
to  this  new  continent,  and  the  end  is  not  yet ;  they 
continue  to  come.  In  this  century  alone  twenty 
million  have  migrated  hither.  They  are  divided  in 
race,  nationality  and  speech.  They  come  not  as 
conquerors  to  divide  the  land  into  new  principalities 
and  states,  to  reproduce  the  antagonisms  of  the 
past.  They  come  in  peace  to  reunite  mankind. 
The  Aryan  and  the  Semite  here  meet  as  long-sep- 
arated kinsmen,  and  the  Ethiopian  stands  a  wistful 
suppliant  to  be  admitted  to  full  brotherhood.  They 
have  all  come  to  participate  in  the  upbuilding 
of  the  people's  State ;  to  become  citizens  of  this 
great  Republic.  What  then  shall  be  the  life  and 
organization  of  this  new  state  in  which  all  these 
divers  people  are  to  have  full  citizenship,  and  in  the 
end  be  given  organic  unity  and  homogeneity  ?  Shall 
we  attempt  to  re-create  the  past,  or  select  from  ex- 
isting systems  one  type  of  national  life  and  of 


15 

political  and  social  forms,  and  by  the  strong  arm  of 
power  compel  men  of  all  races,  creeds,  tongues, 
habits,  traditions,  to  conform  with  it  ?  This  would 
be  to  prostrate  us  on  a  Procrustean  bed,  or  at  least 
on  some  bed  like  that  of  which  the  prophet  com- 
plained when  he  declared :  "  The  bed  is  shorter 
than  a  man  can  stretch  himself  on  it,  and  the  cover 
is  narrower  than  a  man  can  wrap  himself  in  it." 
Fortunately  for  us,  one  factor  in  this  problem  has 
solved  itself.  It  is  that  of  language.  Accepting  as 
true,  that  long  years  ago  these  various  peoples 
spoke  a  common  tongue  now  lost  and  forgotten,  save 
as  its  roots  may  be  traced  in  living  language,  it  is 
equally  true  that  the  speech  of  this  reunited  people 
must  be  English.  But  woe  betide  the  man  who 
from  this  shall  conclude  that  all  other  problems 
can  as  readily  be  solved  by  the  wholesale  adoption 
of  English  precedents,  ideas,  forms  and  traditions. 
Admirable  as  has  been  the  progress  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  tribe  of  the  great  Teutonic  family,  and  great 
as  has  been  its  achievements,  after  all,  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  represents  but  one  phase  of  the  great 
Teutonic  development,  and  is  too  insular  to  meet 
all  the  wants  of  this  great  continent. 

I  say  it  with  deference,  but  in  the  firm  conviction 
of  its  proof,  that  the  educational  systems  of  the 
United  States,  that  which  forms  the  trend  of  public 
life  and  opinion,  have  failed  to  meet  the  full  re- 
quirements of  this  nation,  primarily  because  they 
made  too  little  account  of  the  progress,  development 
and  culture  of  the  peoples  from  the  European 
continents  who  live  among  us.  Let  us  take  a  better 
view  of  our  mission  than  that  of  becoming  mere 
imitators  of  others.  We  can  best  solve  the  great 


i6 

problems  which  in  the  providence  of  God  have  been 
committed  to  us  as  a  people,  by  taking  counsel 
of  all  these  wanderers ;  learn  from  each  what  his 
people,  his  ancestors,  the  nation  from  which  he 
comes,  have  done  for  the  improvement  of  the 
human  race  ;  what  state-craft  they  have  developed  ; 
what  truths  by  long  searching  they  have  found  out ; 
what  forms  of  belief  they  have  found  conducive  to 
the  welfare  of  man ;  what  orders  of  society,  what 
social  life,  what  culture,  what  literature,  they  have 
evolved ;  what  plausible  experiments  in  state-craft, 
in  political  economy  and  social  life  they  have  tried 
and  found  wanting.  Let  each  bring  the  best  his 
people  in  their  long  separation  have  brought  forth, 
as  material  fit  to  be  used  in  the  construction  of  the 
temple  of  wisdom,  truth  and  liberty  we  are  engaged 
in  building  as  the  grandest  monument  of  the 
sovereignty  of  the  people. 

In  a  more  restrictive  and  local  sense,  as  already 
pointed  out  by  your  distinguished  Provost,  the  gen- 
eral purpose  of  the  University  to  give  the  study  of 
Germanic  history  and  literature  and  cultus  a  more 
prominent  place  in  its  curriculum,  is  a  recognition 
of  the  fact  that  any  educational  system  suited  to 
Pennsylvania  must  in  a  broad  and  comprehensive 
way  take  into  full  account  the  large  Germanic 
element  in  her  population,  their  traditions,  their 
language  and  their  achievements.  From  the  very 
beginning  Pennsylvania  was  the  most  un-English 
of  all  the  colonies.  Thousands  upon  thousands  of 
Germans  fled  from  war  and  persecutions  to  Penn's 
peaceful  Commonwealth.  They  formed  such  a 
considerable  portion  of  the  population  in  colonial 
days  that  the  English  were  constantly  clamoring 


'7 

against  their  furthur  importation  for  fear  of  their 
ultimate  political  supremacy.  Not  only  does  Pennsyl- 
vania contain  this  original  population,  (commonly 
known  as  Pennsylvania  Dutch)  but  out  of  the  large 
number  of  German  emigrants,  (so  large  that  in  the 
last  decade  they  numbered  3 1  per  cent,  of  the  total 
immigration)  a  fair  proportion  continues  to  settle  in 
Pennsylvania. 

The  University  of  Pennsylvania,  unless  its  title 
is  meaningless,  must  be  Pennsylvanian  in  the  same 
sense  that  her  people  are  Pennsylvanian.  Any 
university  that  fails  to  recognize  this  German  ele- 
ment in  our  population  cannot  be  a  true  Pennsyl- 
vania university. 

Let  it  be  the  mission,  then,  of  this  University,  and 
of  all  schools  in  this  free  land,  to  appropiate  by 
careful  selection,  without  prejudice  as  to  race,  creed, 
color  or  speech,  the  best  in  the  world,  and  to  assimi- 
late it  into  a  new  national  life,  wherein  shall  be 
developed  a  true  scholarship,  a  good  citizenship  and 
a  noble  manhood,  which  shall  be  known  by  no  other 
name  than  American. 


ADDRESS 

OF 
DR.  A.  SPAETH. 


Seit  etwa  einem  Viertel-Jahrtausend  ergiesst 
sich  nun  von  Deutschland  her  in  dieses  Abendland 
der  stetige,  unversiegbare  Strom  einer  friedlichen 
Volkerwanderung.  Hunderttausende  von  fleissi- 
gen  Arbeitern,  Bauern  und  Handwerkern  sind 
herubergekommen  und  haben  im  Schweiss  ihres 
Angesichts  die  Schatze  heben  helfen,  die  des  Schop- 
fers  Hand  in  den  jungfraulichen  Boden  dieses  west- 
lichen  Continents  gelegt  hat.  Sie  sind  gekommen 
mit  Axt  und  Sage,  mit  Hammer  und  Hobel,  mit 
Pflugschar  und  Spaten  und  haben  die  Wiiste  und 
den  Urwald  in  einen  Garten  Gottes  verwandelt  in 
Pennsylvanien  und  New  York,  an  den  Ufern  des 
Delaware  und  Hudson,  im  grossen  Mississippi 
Becken  und  an  der  Kiiste  des  Stillen  Weltmeers, 
im  wein-  imd  orangen-reichen  Californien.  In  den 
letzten  Jahrzehnten  nunist  dieser  Volkerwanderung 
in  aller  Stille  eine  andere  Wanderung  gefolgt,  die 
in  ihrer  Art  noch  von  viel  grosserer  Bedeutung  ist 
fur  die  Entwicklung  Americas,  ich  meine  die 
Bucherwanderung •,  durch  welche  nach  und  nach 
eine  ganze  Anzahl  von  Bibliotheken  die  von  her- 
vorragenden  deutschen  Gelehrten  im  alten  Vaterland 
gesammelt  wurden,  ihren  Weg  in  diese  neue  Welt 
heriibergefunden  haben.  So  ist  z.  B.  die  Bibliothek 


des  grossen  Kirchenhistorikers  Neander  in  Roches- 
ter, N.  Y.  die  des  Sanskrit-Gelehrten  Franz  Bopp 
auf  der  Cornell  Universitat;  Freiligraths  Biicher 
sind  in  Boston  und  Bluntschli's  rechts-und  staats- 
wissenschaftliche  Bibliothek  befindet  sich  in  Balti- 
more. Und  das  sind  nicht  alle.  Gewiss  weiss 
Mancher  unter  Ihnen  noch  weitere  dieser  Liste 
liinzuzufiigen.  Diese  Biichersammlungen  sind 
nicht  bloss  die  Producte,  sondern  auch  die  Werk- 
zeuge  deutscher  Forschung  und  Gelehrsamkeit.  Sie 
reprasentiren  ein  machtiges  geistiges  Kapital,  das, 
wenn  es  recht  umgesetzt  wird,  fiir  die  Zukunft  uns- 
res  gottgesegneten  Landes  noch  grosseren  Wert 
hat,  als  die  starken,  sehnigen  Arme  der  deutschen 
Bauern  und  Handwerker.  Wir  durfen  uns  darauf 
verlassen,  dass  der  praktische  vorwarts  dringende 
Amerikaner  solche  Biicherschatze  nicht  hierher 
verpflanzt  hat,  um  sie  in  hiibschen  Nischen  und 
Schranken  verstauben  und  vergilben  zu  lassen.  Sie 
werden  ihre  reiche  Frucht  tragen  in  der  Cultur- 
Bntwicklung  dieser  Neuen  Welt.  Und  so  ist  nun, 
als  ein  hochst  wertvolles  Stiick  dieser  modernen 
Biicherwanderung  Bechstein's  germanistische  Bibli- 
othek hierher  nach  Philadelphia  gekommen.  Wir 
Alle,  und  besonders  wir  Deutsch-Amerikaner  haben 
Ursache,  uns  dariiber  von  ganzem  Herzen  zu  freuen, 
dass  in  der  Stadt  der  Bruderliebe  und  im  Staat 
Pennsylvanien ,  an  der  Heimstatte  der  ersten  deut- 
schen Colonisten,  da  wo  ein  Pastorius,  Miihlenberg 
und  Kunze  gewirkt,  ein  Hauptsitz  fiir  system- 
atische  germanistiche  Studien  gegriindet  werden 
soil. 

Die  Germanistik  als  Wissenschaft  ist  verhaltniss 
massig  von  jungem  Datum.  Die  Zeit  ihrer  Entsteh- 


20 

ung  liegt  im  ersten  Jahrzehnt  unsres  Jahrhunderts, 
als  Deutschland  unter  der  Tyrannei  des  Corsischen 
Eroberers  aus  tausend  Wunden  blutend  darnieder 
lag.  Daiuals  wendeten  sich  manche  ernste,  reich 
begabte  Geister  weg  von  der  trostlosen  Gegenwart 
dem  deutschen  Mittelalter  zu,  dem  Heldengedicht, 
der  Sage,  dem  Mahrchen,  der  Kaiser-Herrlichkeit 
vergangener  Jahrhunderte.  Es  war  die  sogenannte 
Romantische  Schule,  rait  der  das  Erwachen  german- 
istischer  Forschungen  Hand  in  Hand  ging.  Die 
Koryphaen  der  klassischen  deutschen  Literatur- 
Periode  gaben  in  dem  Stuck  wenig  directe  Anregung. 
Sie  lebten  mehr  in  der  Antike.  Schiller  starb  schon 
1805  und  Gee  the  hatte  bekanntlich  einen  solchen 
Eindruck  von  Napoleon's  Grosse  empfangen,  dass 
ihm  der  Gedanke  an  Deutschlands  Befreiung  von 
diesen  Ketten  ganz  hoffnungslos  erschien.  War 
nun  zunachst  die  Germanistik  im  engsten  Zusam- 
menhang  mit  dem  wiedererwachenden  deutschen 
Patriotismus  gestanden,  so  hat  sich  doch  sehr  bald 
ihr  Horizont  erweitert.  Sie  griff  weit  iiber  die  Gren- 
zen  Deutschlands  und  der  deutschen  National- 
Literatur  im  engeren  Sinne  hinaus.  Sie  zog  das 
Angelsachsische  und  Nordische  zu  dem  speciell 
Deutschen  in  den  Kreis  ihrer  Forschung  herein  und 
bemachtigte  sich  so  des  ganzen  Gebietes,  das  den 
gemeinschaftlichen  Grand  germanischer  Sprachen 
und  Sitten  in  Europa  bildet. 

Und  hier  liegt  nun  auch  die  besondere  Bedeutung 
welche  die  Germanistik  auf  dem  Boden  dieser  Neuen 
Welt  beanspruchen  darf.  Wahrend  in  der  Volker- 
bildung  und  Geschichts-Entwicklung  des  alten 
Europa  der  urspriinglich  Erne  germanische  Stamm 
in  seine  nordischen  (skandinavischen),  deutschen 


21 

und  angelsachsischen  Zweige  auseinander  gegangen 
1st,  kommen  nun  diese  verschiedenen  Theile  hier 
wieder  zusammen,  urn  in  gemeinsamer  Arbeit 
dieses  zukunftreiche  Volk  und  Land  zu  dem  zu 
machen,  was  es  im  Gang  der  Weltgeschichte  wer- 
den  soil.  Wir  sind  uns  ja  wohl  hewusst,  dass  wir 
es  hier  mit  einem  Allerwelts-Mischkessel  von 
Nationalitaten  zu  thun  haben,  worin,  wenn  es  nur 
auf  das  abstracte  Recht  ankommt,  die  eine  so  viel 
zu  sagen  hat  wie  die  andre.  Wir  vergessen  auch 
nicht,  dass  die  Romanen  und  Slaven  mit  Deutschen, 
Skandinaviern  und  Angelsachsen  zusammen  der 
einen  indogermanischen  Volkerfamilie  angehoren. 
Aber  wir  sind  trotz  alledem  fest  iiberzengt,  dass  das 
germanische  Element,  und  damit  meinen  wir 
Skandinavier,  Angelsachsen  und  Deutsche  zusam- 
men, iiber  die  Zukunft  Amerika's  entscheiden  wird. 
Nicht  Romanich  oder  Slavish,  sondern  Germanisch 
wird  Kopf  und  Herz  von  Amerika  sein  und  bleiben 
miissen,  wenn  es  seine  weltgeschichtliche  Mission 
erfiillen  soil. 

Wir  sind  uns  wohl  bewusst,  welchen  gewaltigen 
Vorsprung  unter  jenen  drei  germanischen  Zweigen 
das  angelsachsische  Element  in  der  Geschichte 
unsres  Landes  gewonnen  hat.  Und  wir  haben  gar 
keine  Ursache  uns  dariiber  irgendwie  aufzuhalten. 
Ihm  verdanken  wir  die  Grundlinien  unsres  consti- 
tutionellen  Staatslebens,  seinen  Parlamentarismus 
seine  Volksregierung.  Ihm  verdanken  wir  auch 
die  Englische  Weltsprache,  die  ohne  alien  Zweifel 
Amerikas  herrschende  Sprache  bleiben  wird.  Aber 
bei  all  dem  miissen  wir  darauf  bestehen,  dass 
Amerika  als  solches  kein  Neu-England  sein  soil, 
gerade  wie  es  kein  Neu-Schweden  und  kein  Neu- 


22 

Deutschland  sein  soil,  sondern  eben  Amerika  !  Aber 
ein  Amerika  das  seine  wahre  Grosse,  seine  Freiheit 
und  Cultur  wesentlich  dem  Germanischen  Geiste 
verdankt.  Denn  dazu  hat  die  Vorsehung  Angel- 
sachsen,  Skandinavier  und  Deutsche  auf  diesem 
Boden  wieder  zusammengefuhrt,  dass  sie  das  acht 
Germanische,  aus  dessen  gemeinsamem  Grund  sie 
alle  entsprossen  sind,  hier  zur  segensreichen 
Geltung  bringen.  9 

Das  angelsachsische  Element,  besonders  wie  es 
in  Neu-England  vertreten  war,  hat  naturgemass  in 
den  ersten  Jahrzehnten  unsrer  geistigen  Entwick- 
lung  eine  leitende  Rolle  gespielt.  Und  durch  die 
herrschende  Landessprache  wird  ihm  bei  der  gros- 
sen  Masse  immer  eine  gewisse  Praeponderanz 
bleiben.  Aber  je  rnehr  unser  Volk  sich  selbst  und 
seine  Aufgabe  in  der  Weltgeschichte  erkennt,  umso 
mehr  wird  vorlaufig  einmal  der  wahrhaft  gebildete 
Theil  desselben  zu  der  Uberzeugung  kommen,  dass 
wir  hier  nicht  den  Beruf  haben,  ein  blosser  Ab- 
klatsch  von  Englischem  Wesen  zu  sein,  dass  unser 
Horizont  ein  weiterer  und  freierer,  unser  Ziel  ein 
hoheres  ist.  Neu-England  hat  seinen  Tag  gehabt  in 
unsrer  Geschichte ;  dem  Germanischen  Geist  gehort 
die  Zukunft.  Und  es  ist  in  der  That  an  der  Zeit,  dass 
die  klagliche  Unselbststandigkeit  und  geradezu 
sklavische  Abhangigkeit,  die  dem  Englischen 
Wesen  gegeniiber  bis  heute  in  so  vielen  Amer- 
ikanischen  Kreisen  geherrscht  hat,  einmal  aufhore. 
Es  ist  wahrhaftig  keine  Ehre  fur  uns  und  kein 
Segen,  wenn  wir  die  ganze  Weltlage,  besonders  auch 
die  Europaeischen  Verwicklungen  immer  nur  durch 
die  Englische  Brille  ansehen  und  uns  von  der 
*  Times  "  und  anderen  Donnerern  an  der  Themse, 


23 

unser  Urtheil  iiber  die  Tages-Ereignisse  vorkauen 
lassen.  In  einem  Lande,  das  unter  seiner  Bevolk- 
erung  zehn,  oder  vielleicht  gar  zwanzig  Millionen 
Abkommlinge  von  rein  deutschem  Stamme  hat, 
sollte  es  nachgerade  als  selbstverstandlich  anges- 
ehen  werden,  dass  jede  tiichtige  Zeitung  unter 
ihren  Mitarbeitern  Manner  zahle,  die  eine  Rede  im 
Reichstag  zu  Berlin  und  eine  Mittheilung  eines 
Deutschen  Ministers  in  Original  lesen  und  in  ihrer 
wahren  Bedeutung  ohne  englische  Vermittlung 
wiedergeben  konnten. 

Trotz  dem  Vorherrschen  der  Bnglischen  Sprache 
muss  bei  uns  das  gemeinsam  Germanischemehrund 
mehr  zur  Geltung  kommen.  1st  doch  im  Bnglischen 
Sprachgeist  selbst  das  Alt-Germ anische,  Sachsische 
das  Element,  das  ihm  seine  wahre  Kraft  und  Wirkung 
sichert.  Bosworth  sagt  in  der  Vorrede  zu  seinem  an- 
gelsachsischen  und  englischen  Worterbuch  von  1876: 
"  Wenn  der  Redner  und  Schriftsteller  nicht  bloss 
den  Verstand  iiberzeugen,  sondern  das  Herz  ergrei- 
fen  will,  muss  er  romanische  Ausdriicke  vermeiden 
und  angelsachsische  brauchen,  die  zu  Herzen 
gehen."  Behanntlich  ruht  die  Kraft  der  Sprache 
bei  den  alteren  Englischen  Dichtern,  wie  in  der 
alten  Bibeliibersetzung  von  1611  ganz  und  gar  auf 
diesem  germanischen  Element.  Hamlet's  beriihm- 
ter  Monolog  :  "  To  be  or  not  to  be"  hat  nicht  mehr 
als  dreizehn  Worter  romanischer  Abstammung. 
Das  Vaterunser  der  alten  englischen  Bibel  hat 
unter  69  Wortern  nur  fiinf  aus  lateinischer  Wurzel. 
Bei  Chaucer  und  Shakespeare  ist  der  Procent-Satz 
mroanischer  Worter  nicht  mehr  als  10  per  cent.; 
bei  neueren  Schriftstellern,  wie  Macauley  und  Gib- 
bon ist  freilich  ein  erhebliches  Steigen  des 


24 

lateinischen  Elements  zu  erkennen.  Aber  auch 
da,  wo  das  Englische  am  starksten  latinisiert,  behalt 
der  germanische  Wort-Vorrath  die  Oberhand.  Und 
ein  tiichtiges  Studium  der  Germanistik  an  einer 
solchen  Bildungs-Statte,  wie  es  die  Universitat  von 
Pennsylvanien  ist,  wird  gewiss  auch  wesentlich 
dazu  beitragen,  die  wertvollsten  und  kraftigsten 
Elemente  der  Englischen  Sprache  selbst  zu  pflegen 
und  zu  starken.  Es  wird  fiirwahr  kein  Schade  sein, 
wenn  wir  der  Tiefe  und  Innigkeit,  dem  Reich  turn 
und  der  Kraft  des  acht  germanischen  Gemiitslebens 
dadurch  wieder  etwas  naher  kommen. 

Und  dies  fiihrt  uns  noch  auf  einen  anderen 
Punct.  Es  ist  noch  ein  besonderes  padagogisches 
und  sittlisches  Interesse  das  wir  zu  Gunsten  der 
Germanistik  gel  tend  machen.  Der  Stoff  der  altger- 
manischen  Mythologie  nd  Heldensage  ist  im 
Vergleich  mit  dem  der  Antike  ein  so  reiner  und  edler 
dass  ihm  an  sittlichem  Gehalt  entschieden  der  Vor- 
zug  gebiihrt.  Ich  weiss  den  Wert  des  classischen 
Altertums  wohl  zu  schatzen  uud  verstehe  ganz 
wohl,  warum  gerade  der  germanische  Geist  demsel- 
ben  als  Bildungsfactor  eine  so  hervorragende  Stelle 
anweist.  Aber  es  bleibt  doch  wahr,  was  Uhland 
sagt,  "  das  alte  deutsche  Helden-Epos  ist  die  Poesie 
der  Treue,"  der  unwandelbaren,  bis  in  den  Tod 
bestandigen  Mannestreue.  Was  ist  dagegen  das 
altgriechische  Epos,  auch  eines  Homer,  mit  seinem 
Olymp,  mit  Zeus  &  Co.  als  die  Poesie  des  Verrats, 
der  Untreue  und  des  Ehebruchs  ?  Ich  glaube,  es 
ist  Gcethe,  der  einmal  sagt,  er  danke  Gott,  dass  wir  im 
Deutschen  kein  Wort  fur  das  walsche  "  Perfidie  " 
besitzen.  Unser  "  treulos "  ist  ein  unschuldiges 
Kind  dagegen.  Dagegen  "  perfid  "  ist  treulos  mit 


25 

Genuss,  in  Ubermut  und  Schadenfreude.  Die 
Grundtugend  der  Mannestreue  aber  leuchtet  uns 
auf  jedem  Blatt  der  alten  Lieder  und  Sagen 
entgegen,  zu  denen  uns  die  Germanistikden  Zugang 
erschliesst. 

Bine  ganz  besondere  Freude  noch  ist  es  mir,  als 
einem  Deutschen  und  Theologen,  dass  unter  den 
reichen  Schatzen  dieser  Bibliothek  das  Reforma- 
tions-Zeitalter  so  wohl  vertreten  ist  mit  dem  Meis- 
tersanger  Hans  Sachs  und  vor  Allem  mit  Luther 
selbst,  dem  Altmeister  der  deutschen  Sprache.  Von 
ganzem  Herzen  rufe  ich  darum  dieser  Biicherei  mein 
Willkommen  zu.  Sie  ist  eine  Ehre  und  Zierde 
unserer  Universitat  von  Pennsylvanien.  Sie  ist  ein 
glanzendes  Zeugniss  fur  den  Mann,  der  an  ihr  als 
Professor  der  Deutschen  Sprache  und  Literatur 
steht  und  der  in  der  Beschaffung  dieser  Bibliothek 
solch  zielbewusstes  Verstandniss,  solch  warme 
Begeisterung  und  solche  Hingebung  an  seinen  Be- 
ruf  bekundet  hat.  Diese  Bibliothek  ist  recht  dazu 
angethan,  germanischen  Geist  hier  heimisch  zu 
machen,  Lust  und  Liebe  zum  Studium  zu  wecken 
und  zur  Vertiefung  in  das  Beste,  was  Angelsachsen, 
Skandinavier  und  Deutsche  gemeinsam  miteinander 
haben.  Die  Universitat  von  Pennsylvanien  hat  sich 
damit  fur  immer  einen  Anspruch  auf  die  Liebe, 
Verehrung  und  Anhanglichkeit  aller  Deutsch- 
Amerikaner  gewonnen.  Moge  sie  nun  auch  in 
Wahrheit  werden,  wozu  diese  Bechstein-Bibliothek 
sie  machen  soil,  der  Hauptsitz  einer  tiichtigen, 
wissenschaftlichen  Forschung  auf  dem  ganzen  wei- 
ten  Gebeit  der  Germanistik  in  den  Vereinigten 
Staaten.  Quod  bonum  felix  faustumque  sit. 


ADDRESS 

OF 

DR.  G.  KELLNER. 


Die  Universitat  von  Pennsylvanien  verdankt 
ihren  Ursprung  ebenso,  wie  deren  Bibliothek  dem 
edlen  Menschen-Freund  Benjamin  Franklin.  Sein 
ganzes  Streben,  nachdem  er  durch  eignes  Studium 
sich  durch  sich  selbst  allein  herangebildet  hatte, 
ging  dahin,  dem  Volk  durch  gute  Schul-Erziehung 
jene  Bildung  zu  sichern,  deren  Erzielung  fiir  ihn 
mit  so  groszen  Schwierigkeiten  verbunden  gewesen 
war. 

Seit  seiner  festen  Ansiedlung  zu  Philadelphia, 
in  1728,  im  Alter  von  22  Jahren,  als  Buchdrucker 
und  Buch-Handler,  war  er  mit  Wort  und  Schrift  auf 
das  Eifrigste  bemiiht,  eine  gute  Schul-Erziehung 
der  Jugend  und  die  Fortbildung  der  Erwachsenen 
zu  fordern.  Die  erste  feste  Organisation,  welche 
er  fiir  letzteren  Zweck  schuf,  war  der  "Junto  Klub," 
der  nur  aus  12  Mitgliedern  bestand,  schlichten 
Handwerkern  und  Geschafts-Leuten,  wie  er  selbst. 
Zweck  des  Klubs  war  gegenseitige  Belehrung  durch 
Debatten  und  Lektiire  in  allem  Wissenswerthen, 
womit  Griindung  einer  freien  Volksbibliothek  ver- 
bunden war.  In  1732  erhielt  der  Klub  einen  Char- 
ter und  1743  gestaltete  er  sich  zur  "Philosophischen 
Gesellschaft  von  Philadelphia." 


27 

Aus  dieser  Gesellscliaft  ging  die  Brriclitung  ei- 
ner  hoheren  Schule,  die  "  Philadelphia  Akademie," 
hervor.  Benj.  Franklin  war  damals  schon  in 
vollster  Entwicklung  als  Denker  und  Gelehrter, 
Schriftsteller  und  Weltweiser,  als  welcher  er  in 
spateren  Jahren  zu  jenem  Weltruhm  gelangte,  der 
in  dem  lateinischen  Vers  seinen  schlagenden  Aus- 
dmck  fand :  "  Eripuit  coelo  fulmen  sceptrumque 
tyrannis"  (Er  entrisz  dem  Himmel  den  Blitz  und 
das  Zepter  Tyrannen).  Er  hatte  feste,  liberale  und 
gereifte  Ansichten  iiber  die  Erziehung  der  Jugend, 
gab  eine  Schrift  dariiber  in  1749  heraus  und  ver- 
faszte  den  Lehrplan  der  neuen  Akademie,  die  bald 
darauf  entstand  und  aus  welcher  spater  die  Univer- 
sitat  von  Pennsylvania  hervorging.  Seine  Ansich- 
ten, sein  Geist  sind  es,  nach  welchen  diese  Hoch- 
schule  nicht  bios  eine  theoretische  Erziehung  in 
den  Wissenschaften  fur  Gelehrte  geben  soil. 

Sie  soil  vielmehr  die  praktische  Anwendung  der 
Wissenschaft  auf  alien  Gebieten  des  taglichen  Le- 
bens  lehren  und  ein  Mittelpunkt  sein  desselben  fur 
Volks-Erziehung  und  Volks-Bildung  in  Stadt  und 
Staat,  und  womoglich  im  ganzen  Land.  Dazu 
sollen  dienen  ihre  reichen  Sammlungen  in  alien 
Wissenschafts-Zweigen,  ihre  freien  Vorlesugen 
und  vor  alien  Dingen  ihre  Bibliothek. 

Und  in  diesem  Geist  hat  die  Universitat,  beson- 
ders  in  den  letzten  Jahrzehnten  Auszerordentliches 
geleistet.  Die  Ausdehnung  (extension)  ihrer 
Vorlesungen  in  popularster  Fassung  fur  das  grosze 
Publikum,  worin  sie  ein  ziindendes  Beispiel  fur  alle 
anderen  Universitaten  des  Landes  gab,  verdienen 
die  hochste  Anerkennung  aller  Freunde  wahrer 
Volksbildung. 


28 

Und  die  Vergroszerung  ihrer  Bibliothek  nach 
alien  Richtungen  und  deren  Eroffnung  fur  das 
grosze  Publikum  ist  ein  weiterer  Schritt,  um  die 
Universitat  zu  einem  echten  Mittelpunkt  der  Volks- 
Erziehung  und  Bildung  im  Geist  ihres  unster- 
blichen  Griinders  Franklin  zu  machen. 

Alle  diese  fortschrittlichen  Entwicklungen  ver- 
danken  wir  hauptsachlich  ihrem  vorigen  Provost, 
Herrn  Dr.  William  Pepper,  der  jahrelang  mit  gro- 
szter  Aufopferung  und  Energie  in  diesem  schwieri- 
gen  Amte  so  erfolgreich  thatig  war,  und  ebenso 
dem  hochst  verdienstvollen,ausgezeichneten,gegen- 
wartigen  Provost,  Herrn  Charles  C.  Harrison. 

Die  Einladung,  welche  uns  heute  hier  in  dieser 
prachtvollen  Halle  versammelt  zur  Einweihung 
einer  groszen  Vermehrung  der  Biichersammlung 
der  deutschen  Abtheilung  der  Bibliothek  entspricht 
ganz  jenem  Prinzip,  die  Wissenschaft  und  ihren 
Trager,  die  Universitat,  popular,  d.  h.  zu  einem 
Volksinstitut  im  edelsten  Sinne  des  Wortes  zu 
machen.  Diesem  Geist  und  diesem  Streben  brin- 
gen  wir  unsere  besten  Gliickwiinsche  dar. 

Die  bedeutende  Vergroszerung  jener  deutschen 
Abtheilung,  welch  letztere  Hand  in  Hand  geht  mit 
dem  Unterricht  in  deutscher  Sprache  und  Literatur 
an  der  Universitat  und  zwar  von  Anfang  an,  leitet 
unsere  Blicke  zuriick  auf  jene  ersten  Zeiten  der- 
selben,  als  sie  im  Jahr  1791  ihren  definitiven 
Charter  erhalten  hatte. 

Kein  anderer  Staat  der  Union  ist  von  seiner 
ersten  Ansiedlung  an  mit  dem  Deutschthum  so 
innig  verwachsen,  wie  Pennsylvanien.  Auf  die 
Griindung  der  Anglo-Sachsen-Stadt  der  Bruderliebe 
in  1862,  folgte  neben  derselben  sofort  ein  Jahr 


29 

darauf,  1683,  die  Gmndlegung  der  "  Deutschen 
Stadt,"  Germantown,  durch  den  Gelehrten  Dr. 
Franz  Daniel  Pastorius,  welchen  William  Penn  zu 
seinem  lieben  Freund  machte,  beide  erfiillt  von 
demselben  lantern  Geist  der  Bruder-  und  Freiheits- 
Liebe  und  der  entschiedensten  Religions-Duldung- 

Bbenso  wie  die  deutsche  Stadt  Germantown  mit 
Philadelphia  zur  groszen  Weltstadt  zusammen- 
wuchs,  ebenso  sind  die  Amerikaner  deutscher 
Abkunft  mit  denen  von  angelsachsischer  Abstam- 
mung  znsammengewachsen  znm  unloslichen  Bru- 
der-Bund  als  treue  Burger  der  groszen  Welt- 
Republik. 

Wo  die  deutsche  Sprache  und  das  deutsche  Lied 
seit  jetzt  216  Jahren  in  dieser  Weise  ihre  Heim- 
statte  gefunden  haben,  da  konnte  es  nicht  an  einem 
Krwachen  des  deutschen  Buchdrucks  und  der 
deutschen  Presse  fehlen. 

Am  20.  August  1739  erschien  zu  Germantown 
die  erste  deutsche  Zeitung  im  Land :  "  Der  Hoch- 
deutsch-Pennsylvanische  Geschichts-Schreiber  oder 
Sammlung  wichtiger  Nachrichten  aus  dem  Natur- 
und  Kirchen-Reich.  Erstes  Stuck" — und  in  1743 
folgte  der  allererste  vollstandige  Bibeldruck  im 
Land — und  zwar  in  deutscher  Sprache.  Christoph 
Saur  war  der  Drucker,  der  sich  1 738  in  German- 
town  niedergelassen  und  die  Typen  seiner  Druck- 
erei  von  Deutschland  bezogen  hatte. 

Tausende  von  deutschen  Biichern  sind  seitdem 
im  Land  gedruckt  worden  und  die  Deutsch-Amer- 
ikanische  Presse  hat  jetzt  die  Zahl  von  tausend 
Zeitungen  erreicht,  darunter  100  tagliche.  Das 
alteste  Wochenblatt  ist  der  "  Reading  Adler,"  der 
Bnde  dieses  Jahres  sein  hundertjahriges  Jubilaum 


30 

feiern  wird;  die  alteste  deutsche  Tages-Zeitung 
der  Union  ist,  der  "  Philadelphia  Demokrat,"  der 
1838  gegriindet  wurde. 

Als  alter  Editor  dieser  alten  Zeitung  darf  ich 
wohl  im  Namen  der  Deutsch-Amerikanischen 
Presse  deren  Gluckwiinsche  hier  aussprechen, 
und  zugleich  im  Namen  des  Deutschthums  iiber- 
haupt  fiir  die  Pennsylvania  Universitat.  Moge  sie 
bliihn  und  gedeihen  immerdar ! 

Es  verstand  sich  von  selbst,  dasz  man  dem 
deutschen  Unterricht  an  der  neuen  Universitat 
dahier  sofort  die  groszte  Aufmerksamkeit  widmete. 
Es  wurde  eine  deutsche  Schule  (Fakultat)  errichtet, 
in  welcher  Lateinisch  und  Griechisch  vermittelst 
der  deutschen  Sprache  unterrichtet  wurde.  Dieselbe 
wurde  jedoch  sehr  bald  in  eine  einfache  deutsche 
Professur  umgestaltet. 

Die  ersten  Professoren  fiir  deutsche  Sprache  und 
deutsche  Literatur  waren  Rev.  Johann  Chr.  Kunze 
und  Rev.  J.  Heinrich  C.  Helmuth,  beide  Mitglieder 
der  1764  gestifteten  "  Deutschen  Gesellschaft  von 
Pennsylvanien,"  welche  das  groszte  Interesse  fiir 
den  Unterricht  im  Deutschen  an  der  Universitat 
bethatigte  und  hauptsachlich  veranlaszte. 

Eine  ganze  Anzahl  tiichtiger  Professoren  reiht 
sich  den  genannten  Mannern  an  bis  auf  unsern 
unvergeszlichen  Dr.  Oswald  Seidensticker,  den 
ausgezeichneten  deutsch-amerikanischen  Gesch- 
ichts-Schreiber,  welcher  so  helles  Licht  iiber  die 
Geschichte  der  Ansiedlung  der  Deutsch-Amer- 
ikaner  im  Lande  verbreitet  hat.  Fiir  die  deutsche 
Abtheilung  der  Bibliothek  hat  er  lebhaft  gewirkt, 
ebenso  wie  fiir  die  Bibliothek  der  deutschen  Gesell- 
schaft, deren  von  ihm  geschaffene  Archiv-Abtheil- 


ung  mehrere  tausend  Bande  alter  deutsch-amerikan- 
ischer  Druckschriften  besitzt. 

Der  Nachfolger  von  Dr.  Seidensticker  und 
anderer  gelehrter  Vorganger,  ist  der  gelehrte  Dr. 
M.  D.  Learned,  der  jetzige  Professor  fur  deutsche 
Sprache  und  deutsche  Literatur  an  der  Universitat, 
welcher  ebenfalls  der  deutschen  Abtheilung  der 
Universitat  seine  groszte  Aufmerksamkeit  widmet, 
sich  durch  verschiedene  Schriften  iiber  das  ameri- 
kanische  Deutschthum  ausgezeichnet  hat  und  dem 
man  hauptsachlich  die  jetzige  Hrwerbung  der  Bech- 
stein-Bibliothek  verdankt. 

Seit  1 88 1  hat  die  Universitat  nicht  allein  iiber  ein 
Dutzend  neuer  Unterrichts-Departements  gegriin- 
det,  sondern  dieselbe  auch  durch  14  prachtige 
Neubauten  ausgestattet.  Zu  letzteren  gehort  auch 
dieser  Bibliothek-Palast,  der  1891  errichtet  wurde, 
und  erst  geniigenden  Raum  gewahrte  fiir  Aufstell- 
ung  von  einigen  hunderttausend  Biichern,  und  der 
eine  halbe  Million  fassen  kann. 

Die  deutsche  Abtheilung  nahm  Theil  an  dieser 
Ausdehnung  und  wurde  fast  noch  mehr  wie  die 
andern  Departements  durch  Ankauf  ganzer  groszer 
Bibliotheken  beruhmter  verstorbener  gelehrter 
Deutschen  begiinstigt,  fiir  alle  Zweige  der  Wissen- 
schaften.  So  wurde  vor  ein  paar  Jahren  die  Biblio- 
thek  des  Professor  Ernst  von  Leutsch  aus  Gottingen 
von  20,000  Banden  erworben.  Und  dazu  ist  jetzt 
der  Ankauf  der  groszen  Bibliothek  des  verstor- 
benen  Prof.  Dr.  Reinhold  Bechstein  von  Rostock 
gekommen. 

Derselbe  war  ein  Sohn  des  bekannten  Dichters 
und  Novellisten  Ludwig  Bechstein,  und  war  einer 
der  hervorragendsten  Germanisten  der  neuern  Zeit, 


32 

der  eine  Anzahl  Biicher  iiber  alt-  mittel-  und  neu- 
hochdeutsche  Literatur  herausgab.  Seine  Biblio- 
thek  umfaszt  einen  reichen  Schatz  solcher  Werke 
und  gibt  dem  deutschen  Departement  der  Bibliothek 
einen  ganz  besonders  hohen  Werth. 

Sie  entha.lt  unter  anderen  die  Bibliothek  des 
"  Literarischen  Vereins  in  Stuttgart "  und  seltene 
alte  Druck-Werke,  wie  die  Ausgabe  von  Hans 
Sachs  durch  Haussler;  Schriften  aus  der  Zeit 
Luthers,  mit  dessen  Autograph — und  Original- 
Ausgaben  der  deutschen  Klassiker  im  vorigen 
Jahrhundert.  Sie  umfaszt  15,000  Bande  und  3000 
Pamphlete  und  periodische  Schriften  und  Revuen 
philologischen  und  literarischen  Inhalts.  Beson- 
ders fur  das  deutsch-amerikanische  Publikum  ist 
dies  vom  groszten  Interesse — abgesehen  von  dem 
fur  die  gelehrte  Welt.  Diese  und  andere  Quellen- 
Schriften  unserer  deutschen  Literatur,  welche  wir 
im  alten  Vaterland  zuriick  lassen  muszten,  als  wir 
hierher  nach  unserm  neuen  theuren  Vaterland 
kamen,  sind  uns  nun  nachgefolgt  und  wir  heiszen 
sie  freudig  hier  willkommen,  iiberzeugt,  dasz  sie 
als  edle  Kultur-Trager  ebenso  segensreich  in  un- 
serm neuen  Vaterland  wirken  werden,  wie  sie  dies 
im  alten  gethan  haben. 

Zu  ihrer  Besichtigung  sind  wir  heute  eingeladen  ! 
Jhre  Benutzung  wird  uns  in  zuvorkommenster 
Weise  geboten  !  Dankbar  nehmen  wir  das  an,  hoch 
erfreut  iiber  solch'  treffliche  Schritte  der  Universitat 
fur  praktische  Volks-Erziehung,  ganz  im  Geist 
ihres  herrlichen  Stifters,  des  Volksmannes  Frank- 
lin, welcher  die  Worte  sprach : 

"  Die  beste  Universitat  fiir  das  Volk  ist  die  beste 
Bucher-Sammlung,  welche  Jedem  offen  steht !  " 


ADDRESS 

OF 

PROFESSOR  M.  D.  LEARNED. 


At  the  founding  of  the  Colony  of  Pennsylvania 
the  Englishman  and  the  German  joined  heart  and 
hand.  Penn  and  Pastorius  were  the  typical  repre- 
sentatives of  two  great  peoples  in  the  establishment 
of  an  Anglo-German  commonwealth  in  America, 
which  was  to  extend  its  limits  far  beyond  their 
fairest  fancies.  Penn's  vision  of  Philadelphia 
(City  of  Brotherly  Love)  has  had  a  larger  realiza- 
tion in  the  national  brotherhood  of  States,  and 
Pastorius'  Germanspolis  (Germantown)  has  become 
the  sinew  of  a  mighty  German-American  people. 

The  seeds  of  a  system  of  academic  education 
were  sown  by  these  two  pioneers  in  the  soil  of  the 
new  colony.  As  early  as  1683  the  new  Executive 
Council  proposed,  "  that  care  be  taken  about  the 
learning  and  instruction  of  youth,  to  wit,  a  school 
of  arts  and  sciences,"  and  in  1689  the  Public  Gram- 
mar School  (modeled  after  the  English  Free  School) 
was  established  in  Philadelphia.  In  1697  this  was 
chartered  as  ihe  Penn  Charter  School,  which  still 
flourishes  as  a  memorial  of  that  significant  be- 
ginning. 

Pastorius  himself  was  the  principal  of  the 
Quakers'  School  in  Philadelphia  between  1698  and 


34 

1 700,  thus  bringing  to  the  Philadelphia  youth  the 
rich  learning  of  the  German  university.  He  was, 
moreover,  notwithstanding  his  rigid  academic  train- 
ing and  taste,  alive  to  the  practical  educational 
needs  of  his  surroundings,  and  undertook  in  1702, 
with  the  support  of  the  Town  Council,  the  organiza- 
tion of  a  school  in  Germantown.  In  addition  to 
this  he  opened  an  evening  school  for  those  who 
could  not  attend  during  the  day.  That  Pastorius 
appreciated  the  necessity  of  practical  education  in 
the  Province,  and  thus  anticipated  some  of  the 
views  which  Franklin  incorporated  in  his  "  Pro- 
posals Relative  to  the  Education  of  Youth  in 
Pennsylvania  "  is  shown  by  the  following : 

"Ich  selbsten  gebe  sofort  etliche  100  Reichsthaler 
darum,  dasz  ich  die  kostliche  Zeit,  welche  ich  zu 
Brlernung  der  Sperlingischen  Physik,  Metaphysik 
und  andern  unnothigen  sophistischen  Argumenta- 
tionibus  und  Arguitionibus  angewendet,  uff  In- 
genier-Sachen  und  Buchdruckerey-Kunst  gekehret 
hatte,  welches  mir  nun  mehr  zu  statten  kommen, 
ja  mir  und  meinen  Neben  Christen  niitzlicher  und 
ergetzlicher  fallen  sollte,  als  sothane  Physic, 
Metaphysic  und  alle  Aristotelische  Elenchi  und 
Syllogismi,  durch  welche  kein  wilder  Mensch  oder 
Unchrist  zu  Gott  gebracht,  viel  weniger  ein  Stuck 
Erodes  erworben  werden  kann." 

As  the  Germans  pushed  westward  and  settled 
in  the  interior  of  the  Province  they  established 
Church  or  Sect  Schools,  but  these  were  not  sufficient 
to  meet  the  demands  of  the  youth  of  the  Province, 
and  what  they  did  tended  rather  toward  conserving 
the  German  language  to  the  neglect  of  English. 
So  the  schools  opened  at  Ephrata  (1733)  and  those 


35 

established  by  the  Moravians  in  Warwick,  Nazareth 
and  Lititz,  and  those  in  Lancaster,  Philadelphia 
and  other  places  perpetuated  for  the  greater  part 
German  traditions.  Though  the  official  language 
of  the  Province  was  English  the  most  important 
documents  had  to  be  published  also  in  German 
translations.  , 

It  was  the  realization  of  the  great  need  of  general 
education,  and  a  growing  fear  on  the  part  of  the  Eng- 
lish settlers  (dating  from  1719)  lest  serious  results 
might  follow  the  exclusive  German  tendencies  of  the 
Province,  that  gave  rise  to  a  charitable  movement  in 
the  direction  of  free  education  of  the  youth.  The 
need  of  popular  education  was  very  generally  felt 
by  the  English  and  Germans  alike. 

The  significant  step  was  taken  by  the  opening 
of  a  Charity  School  in  Philadelphia  in  the  year 
1 740,  in  the  meeting-house  which  had  been  erected 
for  Whitefield.  Count  Zinzendorf  also  in  the  year 
1742  made  an  attempt  to  improve  the  education  of 
the  Germans  in  Germantown. 

The  great  organizing  spirit  of  the  education  of 
the  Province  at  this  time  was  Benjamin  Franklin, 
who  had  for  ten  years  been  studying  the  problems 
of  modern  culture  and  had  been  maturing  plans 
for  an  organized  educational  system  in  the  Province 
of  Pennsylvania.  In  1743  Franklin  drew  up  his 
"  Proposals  "  for  the  establishment  of  an  Academy, 
and  in  1749  published  his  plan  as  a  pamphlet  en- 
titled :  Proposals  Relating  to  the  Education  of  the 
Youth  of  Pennsylvania.  In  the  programme  pub- 
lished by  the  Trustees  of  the  newly  founded 
Academy  in  1750,  a  plan  of  instruction  was  pro- 
posed, "  Wherein  youth  will  be  taught  Latin,  En- 


36 

glish,  French  and  German  language,  logic  and 
rhetoric,  also  writing,  arithmetic,  merchants' 
accounts,  geometry,  algebra,  surveying,  gauging, 
astronomy,  drawing  in  perspective  and  other  math- 
ematical sciences,  with  natural  and  mechanic  phil- 
osophy, etc." 

Here  we  havs  as  an  essential  feature  .of  the  curri- 
culum of  the  new  Academy  (the  nucleus  of  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania)  the  education  of  Ger- 
man youth  and  instruction  in  the  German  language. 
And  it  must  be  emphasized  as  testifying  to  the 
liberal  purpose  of  the  founders  of  the  Academy — in 
the  face  of  the  hostility  of  Saur  and  other  Ger- 
mans to  the  scheme — that  generous  provision  was 
made  in  the  programme  for  the  study  of  the 
German  language  by  giving  it  a  place  by  the  side 
of  English  and  French,  the  other  living  languages 
then  most  prominent  in  American  culture. 

The  evolution  of  the  College  out  of  the  Academy 
was  natural  and  easy.  In  1753  William  Smith 
sent  his  sketch  of  a  "  General  Idea  of  the  College 
of  Mirania "  to  Franklin,  then  President  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Academy.  The  result 
was  the  extension  of  the  Academy  into  the  College 
and  the  appointment  of  William  Smith  as  the  first 
Provost  of  the  College  in  1754.  Smith  in  his  sketch 
had  included  German  among  the  languages  taught 
in  the  College  of  Mirania,  as  the  following  passage 
from  Evander's  account  (p.  37)  shows : 

1  There  are  likewise  Masters  in  the  College  for 
teaching  the  French,  Italian,  Spanish  and  German 
Tongues  at  private  hours ;  and  a  Fencing-Master, 
who,  besides  the  use  of  the  sword,  teaches  the 
Military  Exercise.  There  is  lastly  a  Dancing- 


37 

Master ;  whom  I  should  have  mentioned  first ;  as 
this  art  is  learned  by  the  boys  when  very  young." 

Though  the  modern  languages  were  repre- 
sented more  or  less  as  accomplishments  in  the  Col- 
lege of  Mirania,  yet  they  were  an  essential  feature  of 
the  curriculum,  and  seem  to  have  been  regarded  even 
more  seriously  by  the  Trustees  of  the  new  College 
at  Philadelphia  ;  for  from  the  first  year,  1754,  the 
College  provided  for  German  and  French  instruc- 
tion by  the  appointment  of  William  Creamer  as 
Professor  of  the  French  and  German  Languages. 

Professor  Creamer  held  this  position,  thus  keep- 
ing intact  German  Study,  till  his  retirement  in 
1775,  a  period  of  21  years. 

With  the  development  of  the  College  into  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania,  under  the  new  charter 
of  1779  a  significant  change  was  made  in  the  con- 
stituency of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  leading  to  a 
new  epoch  of  German  instruction  at  the  University, 
By  the  new  charter  representatives  of  the  six  lead- 
ing denominations  of  the  City  of  Philadelphia, — 
the  Episcopal,  Presbyterian,  Baptist,  Lutheran,  Ger- 
man Calvinist,  Roman, — were  to  constitute  one  of 
the  three  classes  of  Trustees.  Accordingly  two  of 
the  most  prominent  German  divines  of  the  City, 
Johann  Christopher  Kunze  and  Casper  Weiberg, 
became  members  of  the  Board.  It  was  through 
the  influence  of  Kunze  and  Weiberg  that  the  Trus- 
tees passed  the  resolution  Jan.  10,  1880  :  That  a 
German  Professor  of  Philology  should  be  appointed, 
whose  duty  should  be  to  teach  the  Latin  and  Greek 
languages  through  the  medium  of  the  German 
tongue,  both  in  the  Academy  and  in  the  University. 
Kunze  himself  was  elected  to  fill  the  chair  and  his 


38 

place  on  the  Board  of  Trustees  was  filled  by  Justus 
Henry  Christian  Helmuth. 

Kunze's  effort  to  make  the  University  of  Penn- 
sylvania the  centre  of  German  culture  deserves 
more  than  a  passing  notice  here,  because  he  was 
the  most  conspicuous  representative  of  German 
education  at  that  time  in  America  and  particularly 
because  he  seems  to  have  been  the  first  to  see  the 
superior  possibilities  at  the  University  for  a  great 
National  School  of  German  which  should  mediate 
between  the  culture  of  the  Fatherland  and  that  of 
America. 

Kunze  the  preacher  and  the  theologian  has  been 
highly  appreciated  by  the  church  historians,  but 
Kunze  the  Professor  and  man  of  letters  deserves  a 
more  sympathetic  sketch.  It  is  this  side  of  his 
career  which  appeals  to  us  on  the  present  occasion. 

The  career  -of  Kunze  as  educator  and  man  of  let- 
ters may  be  treated  under  the  following  heads  : 

1.  His  Original  Poetry. 

2.  His  Educational  Work  as  Professor. 

3.  His  Occasional  Discourses. 

4.  His  Hymnological  Studies. 

In  the  year  1778  Kunze  published  a  volume  of 
Poems  under  the  title :  "  Einige  Gedichte  und  Lie- 
der  von  Johann  Christoph  Kunze,  Ev.  Luth.  Pred. 
zu  Philadelphia  in  Nordamerika :  Gedruckt  und  zu 
finden  bei  Christoph  und  Peter  Saur,  1778."  The 
importance  of  this  book  lies  not  so  much  in  the 
value  of  the  poetry  as  in  these  three  facts  : 

i.  That  it  is  dedicated  to  a  Swedish  Society 
(  "  Einer  Hochloblichen  und  Hochansehnlichen 
Schwedischen  Gesellschaft  Pro  Fide  et  Christian- 
ismo  "  )  of  which  Kunze  had  been  made  a  member. 


39 

2.  That  it  propounds  a  theological  Ars  Poetica 
as  opposed  to  secular  traditions  of  poetry  on  sacred 
themes,  and 

3.  That  it  offers  a  specimen  of  Christian   Kpic 
in  the  metre  of  Klopstock's  Messias,  but  without 
the  (to  Kunze)  objectionable  element  of  invention. 

Kunze's  theory  of  poetry  as  set  forth  in  the 
Introduction  to  his  Collection  of  Poems  briefly 
stated  is  this  :  The  heathen  poets  sang  of  gods 
and  religion,  but  of  gods  they  no  longer  believed  in, 
though  the  people  believed  in  them;  hence  such  poets 
as  Ovid  and  Virgil  toyed  with  religion.  The  Chris- 
tian poets,  such  as  Milton  and  Klopstock,  who 
wrote  on  religious  or  Biblical  themes  mixed  facts 
with  fiction  and  thus  detracted  from  the  power  and 
sanctity  of  the  facts  themselves.  Kunze  would 
eliminate  invention  aud  substitute  for  it  elaboration 
and  devotional  reflection.  If  the  Queen  of  Sheba 
before  Solomon  be  the  theme,  for  example,  the 
poet  may  make  the  queen  as  beautiful  as  he  can. 
What  she  says  he  may  elaborate  into  a  discourse, 
which  sounds  queenly  and  Arabic  ;  but  he  may  not 
attempt  to  cite  any  of  the  conundrums  which  she 
propounded  to  Solomon,  as  he  would  likely  select 
the  wrong  ones.  As  a  matter  of  fact  Kunze's  method 
was  not  so  essentially  different  from  that  employed 
by  Otfried  von  Weissenburg  in  his  Book  of  the 
Gospels  in  the  middle  of  the  ninth  century. 

A  few  passages  will  set  forth  Kunze's  views. 

"  Meine  Dichtkunst,  dies  Geschenke  der  Gott- 
heit,  soil  nur  die  Gottheit  besingen,  aber  in 
Kleidung,  die  die  Wollust  wirkt,  soil  sie  sein  Heil- 
igtum  nicht  entehren.  Ich  mus  erst  einmal  horen, 


40 

dasz  die  theologische  Sphare  fur  Dichter  erschopft, 
ehe  ich  etwas  anders  singe.  Ich  will  lieber  nicht 
dichten  konnen,  wenn  ich  nicht  theologisch  dich- 
ten  kann.  Am  wenigsten  will  ich  andern  die  Ver- 
mischung  ablernen,  nach  welcher  ietzt  ein  Lied 
an  die  Liebe,  und  denn  ein  Lobgedicht  an  die 
Gottheit  in  den  Rubriken  steht. 

Die  wenigen  und  von  Eilfertigkeit  zeugenden 
Gedichte,  die  ich  hier  liefere  werden  zur  Erlau- 
terung  dieser  Sache  nicht  viel  beitragen  wenn  ich 
ober  durch  diesen  Gedanken  etwa  das  Gliick  haben 
sollte,  einen  gebornen  Dichter  zur  Betretung  der 
hier  gezeichneten  Fuszstapfen  zu  reizen,  nach 
welchen  er  alle  seine  Kiinftige  Geburten  bios  der 
naturlichen  oder  geoffenborten  Gottesgelersamkeit 
gelobete,  und  den  Schmuck,  den  man  in  der  an- 
fiirung  fremder  Namen  sucht,  lieber  aus  dem  David, 
Hiob,  Salomo,  Habakuk,  als  aus  dem  Homer  oder 
Virgil  entlehnte ;  so  wiirde  glaube  ich,  gewis  offen- 
bar  werden,  dasz  der  bisherige  fremde  Feder- 
schmuck  sehr  entbehrlich  war.  Man  wiirde  machtig 
wie  Moses,  und  lieblich  wie  der  Son  Isai,  singen. 
Doch  wir  haben  ia  Brokese,  Trillers,  Miltons,  Klop- 
stocks,  deren  Dichtkunst  wahrhaftig  nur  dem 
Gegenstande  heilig  war,  der  mir  allein  besingens- 
wiirdig  vorkommt.  Man  wird  indessen  ohn  mein 
Erinern  sehen,  bei  welchen  unter  diesen  noch 
Vermischungen  herrschen,  die  ich  nicht  Hebe. 
Indes  wiirde  ich  kein  Wort  gesagt  haben,  wenn  wir 
viel  solche  Dichter  hatten,  als  diese  lichenswiirdige 
und  grosse  Manner  sind  und  waren.  Die  ersteren 
beiden  schranken  sich  mehr  auf  die  natiirliche 
Theologie,  die  beiden  andern  auf  die  geoffenborte 
ein.  Da  David  weit  mehr  Psalmen  hat,  die  in  die 


reinen,  als  solche  die  in  die  vermischten  Artikel 
einschlagen,  und  ich  fiir  die  Nachahmung  dieses 
grosten  der  Dichter  enthusiastisch  eingenommen 
bin,  als  ie  Virgil  fiir  die  Nachahmung  des  Homers 
sein  konnte ;  so  wiinschte  ich  der  Welt  mehr 
Miltons  und  Klopstoks.  Ich  lasse  hier  die  Sprache 
meines  Herzens  reden,  und  bezeuge  diesen  Dichtern 
den  Beifall,  den  mein  Herz  fiilt :  Aber  ich  wiinsche 
ihnen  doch  ein  Verdienst  weniger,  ich  meine  das 
Verdienst  der  Fiction.  Man  schreibe  dieses  lieber 
dem  von  mir  gestandenen  Enthusiasmus  zur 
Davidischen  Nachahmung,  als  einer  Tadelsucht 
zu.  David  hat  auch  historische  Gedichte,  aber 
ohne  Erdichtung.  Freilich  waren  seine  Gedichte 
alle  kurz,  weil  sie  zum  Absingen  verfertiget  waren. 
Bei  uns  kan  hier  die  veranderte  Ursache  den  Erfolg 
verandern.  Ein  ausgebreitetes  Gedicht  vom 
M'essias  oder  vom  verlornen  Paradies,  vom  Bethle- 
hemitischen  Kindermord  und  dergleichen,  wird 
meine  ganze  Sele  durchdringen.  Aber  Sachen, 
von  denen  ich  weis,  dasz  sie  nicht  war  sind,  werden 
meine  Bewunderung  mindern.  Die  Fiction  heiszt 
es,  mus  Sachen  enthalten,  die  warscheinlich  sind. 
Die  Warscheinlichkeit  kann  im  Eigentlichen  Vers- 
tande  hier  nicht  statt  finden,  wo  man  schon  die 
Quellen  sogar  kennt,  aus  denen  die  besungene 
Geschichte  geschopft  wird,  und  Eingebungen  traut 
auch  der  vom  Vergniigen  berauschte  Leser  dem 
Dichter  in  Ernst  nicht  zu.  In  der  Iliade  be- 
wundert  man  die  Erfindung  und  den  grosten  An- 
teil  hat  der  Dichter  daran.  Der  Leser  freut  sich 
iiber  die  entdekten  Tiefen  einer  menschlichen 
Einbildungskraft,  und  diese  Freude  gebieret  den 
Beifall.  Wird  aber  mein  Messias  besungen,  da 


42 

soil  dieser  liebenswiirdige  Gegenstand  selbst  den 
groszten  Anteil  an  meinem  Erstaunen  haben.  Von 
jedem  erzelten  Umstande  mus  meine  Ueberzeugung 
mir  sagen,  dasz  er  so  war  oder  ohngefahr  so  war. 
Die  Wiirde  der  Sache  bringt  dis  so  mit  sich.  Sie 
1st  an  sich  groser  und  wunderbarer,  als  sie  die 
Einbildungskraft  machen  kann.  Werden  aber 
dieser  reelle  Zusaze  erlaubt ;  so  befiirchte  ich,  dasz 
endlich  eine  Messiade  so  gem  als  die  Iliade  gelesen, 
und  so  viel  da  von,  als  von  dieser,  geglaubt  wird. 
Die  Fiction  ist  ia  eben  nicht  das  wesentliche 
des  Gedichts.  Alcaus  erdichtet  nicht  und 
dichtet  gulden.  David  dichtet  lauter  Warheit 
und  singt  unaussprechlich  erhaben.  Der  Herr 
General-Superintendent  am  Ende  brachte  die 
Apostelgeschichte  in  ein  sehr  schones  lateini- 
sches  Gedicht,  und  des  Frischinus  Hebrais  ist  so 
schon,  als  zuverlaszig.  Waren  diese  Gedichte 
deutsch,  so  waren  sie  gewis  bekannter  und  wiirden 
mehr  bewundert.  Die  lateinische  Poesie  erfart  iezt 
eine  Verachtung,  die  um  so  viel  ungerechter  ist,  ie 
mehr  die  Dichter  in  der  Muttersprache  ihr  zu 
verdauken  haben,  und  die  so  schadlich  werden  kan, 
als  die  gegenwartige  Vernachlaszigung  der  lateini- 
schen  Sprache  iiberhaupt  ist." 

The  first  few  verses  of  Kunze's  "  Dichten  vom 
Messias  ohne  Erdichtung  "  may  be  cited  here  with 
the  beginning  of  Klopstock's  Messias  : 

(Kunze.) 
Denke  und  schweige  zu  denken,  geborne  vom  gott- 

lichen  Hauche 
Denke,  und  starre  im  Denken,  doch  stammle   den 

starren  Gedanken 
Hin  in  die  warmere  Brust  des  lauschenden  Rich- 

ters  der  Sanger. 


43 

(Klopstock.) 

Sing,  unsterbliche  Seele,  der  siindigen  Menschen 

Krlosung, 
Die  der  Messias  auf  Brden  in  seiner   Menschheit 

vollendet, 
Und  durch  die  er  Adams  Geschlecht  zu  der  Liebe 

der  Gottheit, 
Leiden,  getodtet  und  verherrlichet,  wieder  erhohthat. 

It  is  Kunze's  educational  work,  however,  which 
associates  him  most  intimately  with  the  history  of 
the  University.  In  fact  it  may  be  said  that  educa- 
tion in  the  larger  sense  was  the  labor  of  his  life. 
As  early  as  1773  he  established  a  Seminarium  or 
Lateinische  Schule,  the  origin  of  which  he  has  left 
on  record  in  a  letter  of  May  16,  1773  (Published  in 
Schlozer's  Brefwehsel  i.  206  ff,  Mr.  J.  F.  Sachse's 
copy ): 

"  Seit  meinem  Klosterbergischen  Aufenthalt  hat 
sich  immer  in  mir  eine  ganz  besondere  Neigung 
gefunden,  etwas  mit  einer  Schule  darinnen  Sprach- 
en  und  Wissenschaften  gelehret  warden,  zu 
thun  zu  haben  :  die  so  wenig  durch  alle  meine 
ganz  andere  Geschafte  erstickt  worden,  dasz  ich 
vielmehr  noch  immer  mit  den  Gedanken  schwanger 
gegangen  bin,  einmal,  wo  es  der  Wille  des  lieben 
Vaters  im  Himmel  ware,  dergleichen  hier  unter 
unsern  Deutschen  zu  errichten.  Mit 

dem  Anfange  des  neuen  Jars  1773  meldete  sich  ein 
Hallischer  Student  bei  uns  an,  der  den  Rechten 
ehedem  obgelegen,  hernach  Soldat  geworden,  und 
zuletzt  lange  Zeit  auf  St.  Thomas,  Crux,  und  John 
*  *  sich  aufgehalten,  und  mit  Unterrichtung 
der  Jugend  sich  beschaftigt  hatte.  Er  suchte  sein 
Unterkommen,  und  wiesz  Zeugnisse  von  der 
hallischen  Universitat  auf.  *  *  *  Merkwiirdig 


44 

war  mir's  dasz  ich  den  Tag  vorher,  ehe  Hr.  Leps, 
so  heiszt  mein  Kandidat,  sich  meldete,  von  tmgefer 
diesen  Gedanken  hatte:  "  Sollte  ich  einmal  in  einen 
Vorrat  von  20  Pf.  kommen ;  so  wollte  den  ersten 
deutschen  Studenten,  der  an  unsrer  Kiiste  anlan- 
den,  und  Fracht  schuldig  seyn  wiirde,  kanfen,  in 
meine  oberste  Stube  setzen,  eine  kleine  lateinische 
Schule  anfangen,  in  den  Morgenstunden  selbst 
leren,  und  alsdann  meinen  Servant  leren  lassen, 
und  durch  ein  geringes  Schulgeld  mich  bezalt 
machen. 

Indesz  war  Hr.  Leps  frachtfrei,  und  hatte  auch 
ein  wenig  Geld,  ein  par  Monate  hier  zu  leben. 
Ich  riet  ihm,  heir  eine  lateinische  Schule  anzu- 
f  an  gen,  versprache  ihm  darinn  zu  unterstiitzen, 
und  machte  ihm  einen  Aufsatz. 

Ich  machte  einen  Aufsatz  des  Inhalts  auf  einem 
Bogen : 

"  Es  seien  etliche  Beforderer  des  waren  Besten 
der  deutschen  Nation  in  Amerika  gesonnen,  eine 
Gesellschaft  zu  errichten,  die  den  Namen  fiiren 
konnte :  die  Gesellschaft  zu  Beforderung  des 
Christentums  und  aller  niitzlichen  Brkenntnis 
unter  den  Deutschen  in  Amerika. 

The  necessary  number  of  subscribers  (24)  were 
secured,  each  contributing  TO  £  to  the  treasury. 
The  members  had  a  right  to  free  tuition,  others  had 
to  pay.  A  regular  code  of  by-laws  was  drawn  up, 
providing  for  three  classes  of  members  of  the  So- 
ciety and  minutes  were  kept  of  the  progress  of  the 
enterprise.  This  school  seems  to  have  been  the 
first  attempt  at  strict  academic  instruction  among 
the  Germans  in  America  and  perpetuated  the  influ- 
ence of  Francke's  Paedagogium  at  Halle.  That 


45 

the  general  ultimate  purpose  of  the  school  was 
similar  to  that  of  Francke  appears  from  the  follow- 
ing passage  from  Kunze's  letter:  "Einige  endzwecke, 
z.  Ex.  wirklich  im  Lande  etliche  Kirchen  zu 
bauen,  ein  deutsch  Armenhaus  und  Waisenhaus 
zu  errichten  Prediger  zu  besolden,  erlebe  ich  ohne 
Zweifel  gar  nicht." 

Kunze  saw  in  his  appointment  as  German  Pro- 
fessor of  Philology  at  the  University  an  opportunity 
for  the  largest  academic  education  of  German 
youth  and  bent  his  energies  toward  enlisting  the 
interest  and  co-operation  of  the  Germans  in  this 
department  of  the  University.  German  was  the 
language  in  which  he  interpreted  the  ancient 
classics  and  thus  kept  the  German  students  in  touch 
with  the  best  culture  of  the  Fatherland  and  at  the 
same  time  afforded  opportunity  for  the  Bnglish 
speaking  student  to  acquire  a  fluent  knowledge  of 
the  German  language  as  the  speech  of  the  lecture- 
room.  The  German  student  had  here  also  the 
advantage  of  being  able  to  attend  the  courses  in 
English  and  thus  familiarize  himself  with  the 
English  language. 

That  Kunze  was  planning  a  comprehensive  sys- 
tem by  which  Germans  should  be  prepared  for  the 
higher  work  of  the  University  is  evident  from  the 
fact  that  he  was  active  in  organizing  a  movement 
for  educating  German  children  under  the  auspices 
of  the  German  Society,  as  appears  in  the  Society's 
Charter,  Sept.  20,  1781.  At  the  anniversary  of  the 
granting  of  the  Charter,  Sept.  20,  1782  Professor 
Kunze  set  forth  more  definitely  the  educational  plans 
of  the  Society :  "  For  the  advancement  of  know- 
ledge among  the  Germans,  the  Society  intends  in 


46 

the  course  of  time,  with  the  help  of  God,  either  to 
establish  necessary  schools  or  to  make  those  al- 
ready established  more  servicable  to  the  Nation." 

In  this  famous  Gedachtnisrede  of  Sept  20,  1782, 
Professor  Kunze  exhorts  the  German  "  fur  erhal- 
tung  der  deutschen  sprache  unter  den  hiesigen 
Deutschen,  fur  Errichtung  von  Schulen  und  Biblio- 
theken  u.  s.  w.  sich  wirksam  zu  erweisen."  He 
then  gives  an  account  of  the  German  Department 
at  the  University  and  warns  the  Germans  that 
"  die  Fortdauer  dieser  Anstalt  vom  Gebrauch  ab- 
hangt,  der  devon  gemacht  wird." 

Kunze's  transfer  to  New  York  was  made  with 
the  expectation  that  his  educational  efforts  might 
find  more  success  under  the  patronage  of  Columbia 
College,  where  he  was  Professor  of  Oriental  Lan- 
guages ;  but  his  hopes  were  not  realized  and  he 
gradually  entered  more  and  more  into  the  exclusive 
service  of  his  Church  expressing  his  educational 
vigor  in  organizing  the  New  York  Synod. 

It  was  in  this  latter  work  that  he  published  a 
Hymn  and  Prayer-Book  for  the  use  of  such  Lutheran 
Churches  as  use  the  English  Language,  1795.  In 
this  work  Kunze  shows  that  he  foresaw  the  neces- 
sity of  coming  into  line  with  the  strong  anglicising 
forces  then  at  work  among  the  Germans  in  America 
and  so  became  the  pioneer  in  this  field  of  Church 
education  among  the  Lutherans.  Kunze  was  in 
a  word  educationally  a  well  poised  German-Amer- 
ican, true  to  the  traditions  of  his  mother  tongue, 
but  alive  to  the  demands  of  the  new  life  in  the  in- 
fant American  Republic. 

In  his  occasional  addresses  Professor  Kunze 
showed  himself  in  close  touch  with  the  living  cul- 


47 

tural  issues  of  the  day.  Of  these  discourses 
delivered  during  his  connection  with  the  University 
the  following  are  the  most  important : 

Etwas  vom  rechten  Lebenswege  Philadelphia, 
1781  (Dedicated  to  Peter  Freiherrn  von  Hohenthal, 
Oberconsistorialrath  und  Domdnenprdsidenten  in 
Sachsen}.  Lobet  den  Herren,  der  zu  Zion  wohnet. 
(Delivered  at  the  renovation  of  Zion  Church,  1782, 
after  the  English  had  used  it  as  a  hospital). 

Eine  Rede  von  den  Absichten  und  dem  bisherigen 
Fortgange  der  priviligirten  deutschen  Gesellschaft, 
Philadelphia,  Sept.  20,  1782  (Reprinted  in  Schopf's 
Reise  durch  die  Vereinigten  Staten}.  It  traces  the 
activity  of  the  Society,  which  through  Kunze's 
efforts  had  been  granted  a  Charter  allowing  it  to 
apply  a  part  of  its  funds  to  education,  (quoted 
above). 

Eine  Aufforderung  an  das  Volk  Gottes  in  Amer- 
ika  zum  frohen  Jauchzen  und  Danken,  u.  s.  w.  (Oct. 
n,  1783.  Celebration  of  the  day  of  thanks  for 
Peace  and  Independence). 

Professor  Helmuth,  Kunze's  successor  as  Ger- 
man Professor  of  Philology  at  the  University, 
continued  the  Policy  of  keeping  the  German 
Society  and  the  German  "Institut"  (as  the  German 
Department  was  called)  of  the  University  in  the 
closest  affiliation,  thus  showing  clearly  that  the 
efforts  of  the  University  and  of  the  German  Society 
were  parts  of  one  and  the  same  educational  plan. 

Helmuth  was  like  Kunze  a  poet,  but  of  the  more 
exclusively  devotional  type.  He  had  published  in 
1781  at  Philadelphia  his  poems:  Empfindungen 
der  Herzens  in  einigen  Liedern,  which  compare 
very  favorably  with  the  German  church  poets  of 


48 

of  the  time  and  breathe  the  spirit  of  fervent  piety. 

But  Helmuth  like  Knnze  rendered  his  greatest 
service  to  the  University  in  his  capacity  as  German 
Professor.  He  like  Kunze  kindled  the  enthu- 
siasm of  the  German  Society  for  the  German  De- 
partment and  was  able  to  report  in  1785  that  sixty 
students  were  in  attendance.  He  sent  to  Germany 
a  most  interesting  account  of  the  public  exhibition 
of  the  work  of  the  students  of  the  Institute  given 
at  the  anniversary  of  Charter  Day  before  the  Ger- 
man Society,  Sept.  20,  1 784.  This  report,  which  was 
sent  to  Germany,  runs  in  English  translation  as 
follows : 

"  After  this  I  went  to  the  meeting  of  the  officers 
of  German  Society  here,  which  had  requested  me 
to  deliver  an  address  at  the  anniversary.  I  pro- 
posed that  they  should  act  as  Patrons  of  the  Ger- 
man Institute.  They  kindly  accepted  all  my 
propositions  and  bore  the  trouble  and  expense  of 
the  whole  performance." 

Speaking  of  the  exercises  he  said  : 

(  To-day  our  Actus  Oratorius  was  held  in  a  very 
festive  style,  the  first  of  the  kind  among  the  Ger- 
mans in  America.  All  the  members  of  the  assem- 
bly, of  the  Executive  Council  and  Censors  of  the 
State,  the  City  Council,  the  entire  Faculty  and 
the  German  Society  and  many  other  ladies  and 
gentlemen  honored  us  with  their  presence.  The 
German  Society  had  provided  music,  which  was 
played  during  the  intervals.  I  offered  prayer  in 
English  at  the  beginning.  After  this  one  of  my 
pupils  delivered  an  English  address,  thanking  the 
Trustees  for  their  interest  in  the  Germans  in  estab- 
lishing the  German  Professorship.  One  of  the 


49 

young  students  gave  an  account  of  the  School  in 
the  German  Language.  Two  entertained  those 
present  with  the  discovery  of  a  planet,  their  jour- 
ney thither  and  sojourn  upon  it.  German.  A  Con- 
cealed Moral.  Another  described  in  German 
verses  the  Day  of  Judgment.  After  these  t 
another  told  of  the  goodness  of  God,  also 
in  German  verses.  Next,  four  others  entered 
the  stage  and  discoursed  about  spirits  and  witch- 
craft, one  of  them  describing  the  new  discovery 
of  so-called  animal  magnetism,  German.  Three 
others  discussed  the  tolerance  of  religions,  and  three 
impersonated  peasant  children,  one  of  whom  had 
been  in  the  school  two  years  and  gave  the  others 
instruction  about  things  they  did  not  know. 
This  was  intended  to  serve  as  an  admonition 
to  well-to-do  country  people  that  they  should  give 
their  children  better  education.  After  this  I  as 
member  of  the  German  Society  made  an  address 
and  our  Provost  closed  with  prayer." 

Also  July  4,  1785,  Professor  Helmuth  gave  an 
oratorical  exhibition  of  his  students  and  invited 
the  German  Society.  So  in  1787  a  similar  per- 
formance in  Zion  Church. 

This  account  gives  suggestive  evidence  that 
Helmuth's  students  had  already  heard  of  Les- 
sing's  Nathan  der  Weise,  which  had  appeared  in 
1779,  and  were  being  instructed  in  the  best  contem- 
pory  German  thought. 

Reference  has  been  made  already  to  the  oppo- 
sition of  Saur  and  many  other  Germans  to  the 
Charity  School  movement,  which  planted  schools 
in  various  parts  of  the  Province  between  1750 
and  1760,  for  the  education  of  German  youth. 


50 

The  fear  of  the  English  Colonists  that  German 
ideas  might  obtain  too  strong  a  foot-hold  in  the 
Commonwealth  and  the  organized  plan  of  ang- 
licising the  Germans  by  a  system  of  popular 
education  roused  a  corresponding  anxiety  on  the 
part  of  the  Germans  lest  they  should  become 
thoroughly  anglicised  and  lose  their  German 
traditions.  This  alienation  of  the  Germans  led 
to  an  unfortunate  separation  of  the  German  and 
English  educational  forces  of  the  State  after  the 
Revolution,  by  the  transference  of  the  seat  of 
German  academic  education  to  Lancaster  and 
the  founding  of  Franklin  College,  1787,  to  meet 
the  speific  needs  of  the  Germans. 

The  mistake  was  not  the  founding  of  Frank- 
lin College  for  the  Germans,  but  the  dissipation 
of  the  educational  energies  of  the  Commonwealth 
by  the  dissolution  of  the  flourishing  German 
Institute  at  Philadelphia  and  the  premature 
foundation  of  a  German  College  in  the  middle 
of  the  State  at  a  time  when  there  was  not  suffi- 
cient educational  impetus  to  carry  it  forward. 
If  the  German  Institute  of  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania  had  been  fostered  for  a  quarter  of 
a  century  and  then  with  a  strong  current  of 
German  culture  setting  toward  Philadelphia  a 
Franklin  College  had  sprung  up  out  of  soil  al- 
ready prepared,  the  history  both  of  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania  and  Franklin  College 
might  have  been  far  more  significent  in  the  an- 
nals of  the  young  Republic. 

But  as  it  was,  neither  Franklin  College  nor 
the  University  could  maintain  the  proper  cul- 
tural balance.  The  auspicious  union  of  German 


51 

and  English  culture  at  the  University  of  Penn- 
sylvania during  the  period  of  Kunze  and 
Helmuth  was  retarded  for  a  round  century  and 
the  graft  of  German  letters  into  the  English 
stalk  was  left  to  send  forth  its  shoot  in  the  chilly 
soil  of  New  England  during  the  cultural  revival 
of  the  second  quarter  of  the  present  century. 
It  was  during  this  period  that  Harvard  had  its 
first  Professor  of  German  in  Charles  Follen, 
three  quarters  of  a  century  after  the  appoint- 
ment of  Professor  Creamer  at  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania  and  half  a  century  after  the  elec- 
tion of  Kunze  as  German  Professor  of  Philology. 

The  question  of  the  cultivation  and  preserva. 
tion  of  German  language  and  culture  in  America 
must  be  reserved  for  another  discourse,  but  this 
much  must  be  kept  in  view  that  no  culture,  no 
literature,  can  attain  and  maintain  full  vigor  for 
a  long  period  of  time,  if  left  entirely  to  its 
own  resources.  The  law  of  nature  that  perpetual 
progressive  development  must  be  secured  by 
the  crossing  of  species  is  not  less  exacting  in 
literature  than  in  animals  and  plants.  So  the 
years  of  German  alienation  from  Helmuth  to 
Haldeman  were  almost  barren  of  German  fruit 
at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  save  in  the 
Department  of  Medicine,  while  Puritan  New 
England  was  rejoicing  in  an  era  of  literary 
awakening  from  the  touch  of  German  L-etters. 

The  revival  of  German  studies  at  the  Univer- 
sity of  Pennsylvania  begins  with  the  researches 
of  Samuel  Stedman  Haldeman,  Professor  of 
Natural  History,  185053,  and  Professor  of  Com- 
parative Philology,  1869-1880.  Professor  Hadelman 


52 

contributed  ten  studies  on  conchology,  thirty-six 
on  entomology,  seven  on  geology  and  chemistry, 
seven  on  archaeology,  thirty-two  on  philology,  and 
twenty-eight  on  other  subjects.  Of  the  thirty-two 
contributions  to  philology,  one  is  of  particular  im- 
portance as  inaugurating  the  study  of  German 
dialects  in  America.  This  was  a  paper  entitled 
On  the  German  Vernacular  of  Pennsylvania, 
published  in  the  transactions  of  the  American 
Philological  Association  for  1869-1870,  read  also 
before  the  Philological  Society  of  London,  1870, 
and  published  separately  with  Perfatory  Notice  by  A. 
J.  Ellis,  under  the  title,  Pennsylvania  Dutch,  A  Dia- 
lect of  South  German  with  an  Infusion  of  English, 
Philadelphia,  1872.  It  was  the  instinct  and  experience 
of  a  naturalist  that  led  Professor  Haldeman  to  the 
study  of  language  and  gave  his  researches  their  pecu- 
liar value.  The  relation  of  linguistics  to  etymology 
attracted  him  in  particular  and  stimulated  his  studies 
On  the  Phonology  of  the  Wyandots  (1846),  On  Some 
Points  in  Linguistic  Ethnology,  Relations  between 
the  Chinese  and  Indo-European  Languages  (1856), 
and  similar  subjects,  in  which  the  influence  of 
Wilhelm  von  Humboldt  seems  clearly  traceable. 
At  the  time  when  Haldeman  was  writing  his  study 
on  Pennsylvania  Dutch,  dialect  study  in  Germany 
was  still  in  the  formative  stage,  as  a  brief  mention 
of  the  more  important  works  before  1868  will  show. 
Before  the  middle  of  the  century  were  such  works 
Stalder's  Vereuch  eines  schweiz.  Idiotikon  (1812),  Sch- 
meller's  Die  Mundart  Bayerrfs  grammatisch  darg- 
'  estellt(\%2\)^w&o>i,Mustersaal  aller  deutschen  Mun- 
daren,  (1822)  and  Schmeller's  Bayerisches  Wortebuch 
(1827-1837)  bearing  specifically  on  German  dialects. 


53 

After  1850  we  note  the  following  as  important : 
1853.  Weinhold  Ueber  deutsche  Dialektforschung. 
1853-1859.     Deutsche  Mundarten  I. —  VI. 
1856.     Briicke,  Grundzuge  der  Physiologie  und 
Systematik  der  Sprachlaute. 

1862.  Sartorius  Die  Mundart  der  Stadt  Wurz- 
burg. 

Schopf,  Tirolisches  Idiotikon. 

1863.  Weinhold,  Alemannische  Grammatik. 
Nassl,  Die  Laute  der  Tepler  Mundart. 

1864.  Fetters,  Beitrdge  zur  Dialektforschung  in 
Nordbbhmen. 

Riickert,  Die  deutsche   Schriftsprache   der 
Gegenwart  und  deutsche  Dialekte. 

1866.  Merkel,     Physiologie     der     menschlichen 
Sprache. 

1867.  Weinhold,  Bairische  Grammatik. 

1868.  Vilmar,  Idiotikon  von  Kurhessen. 
Scherer,     Zur    Geschichte   der    deutschen 

Sprache. 

In  England  Alex.  Melvill  Bell  had  published 
his  Visible  Speech  (1867),  and  Alex.  J.  Ellis  his 
Early  English  Pronunciation  (1867). 

It  is  hardly  likely  that  Professor  Haldeman  had 
access  to  all  the  dialect  treatises  mentioned  above. 
We  know,  however,  that  in  preparing  his  Pennsyl- 
vania Dutch  he  consulted  Stalder,  Radlof, 
Schmeller,  Castelli,  Briicke,  Merkel,  and  Ellis. 

Haldeman's  Pennsylvania  Dutch  may  be  regarded 
as  a  pioneer  study,  first  in  American  dialectology, 
and  secondly  in  comparative  study  of  modern  Ger- 
man dialects. 

The  point  of  view  and  at  the  same  time  the  im- 
portance of  Professor  Haldeman's  study  is  admir- 


54 

ably  set  forth  by  Mr.  Ellis  in  his  Prefatory  Notice 

as  follows : 

"  Sufficient  importance  does  not  seem  to  have 
been  hitherto  attached  to  watching  the  growth  and 
change  of  living  languages.  We  have  devoted  our 
philological  energies  to  the  study  of  dead  tongues 
which  we  could  not  pronounce,  and  have  therefore 
been  compelled  to  compare  by  letters  rather  than 
by  sounds,  and  which  we  know  only  in  the  form 
impressed  upon  them  by  scholars  of  various  times. 
The  form  in  which  they  were  originally  written  is 
forever  concealed.  The  form  in  which  they  appear 
in  the  earliest  manuscripts  has  practically  never 
been  published,  but  has  to  be  painfully  collected 
from  a  mass  of  various  readings.  The  form  we 
know  is  a  critical,  conjectural  form,  patched  up 
by  men  distinguished  for  scholarship,  but  for  the 
most  part  entirely  ignorant  of  the  laws  which 
govern  the  change  of  speech.  The  very  ortho- 
graphy is  mediaeval.  We  are  thus  enabled  to  see 
as  little  of  the  real  genesis  of  language  in  form,  in 
sound,  in  grammatical  and  logical  construction,  in 
short  in  the  real  truth  of  philological  investigation, 
the  relation  of  thought  to  speech-sound,  as  the 
study  of  a  full-grown  salmon  would  enable  us  to 
judge  of  the  marvellous  development  of  that  beau- 
tiful fish.  Such  studies  as  the  present  will,  I  hope, 
serve  among  others  to  stimulate  exertion  in  the 
new  direction.  We  cannot  learn  life  by  the  study 
of  fossils  alone." 

Simultaneously  with  the  researches  of  Professor 
Haldeman  in  the  Pennsylvania  Dutch,  his  col- 
league Oswald  Seidensticker,  Professor  of  German 
in  the  University,  was  breaking  ground  in  another 


55 

field  of  German- American  culture — the  History 
and  Literature  of  the  German  Pioneer  in  America. 

As  early  as  1864  Professor  Seidensticker  pub- 
lished a  paper  entitled  Schiller  im  Englischen.  This 
study  seems  to  have  served  only  as  the  door  to  a 
more  attractive  department,  for  his  studies  for  the 
next  twenty  years  lay  chiefly  in  the  earlier  period 
of  German- American  history  and  literature,  and  it 
was  only  toward  the  end  of  his  career  that  he  once 
more  published  a  paper  more  closely  related  to  the 
one  of  1864  under  the  title,  The  Relation  of  Bng- 
glish  and  German  Literature  in  the  Bighteenth 
Century.  The  work  of  Professor  Seidensticker  is 
so  fresh  in  the  minds  of  those  who  followed  it,  that 
one  might  perhaps  most  fitly  characterize  it  by 
allowing  the  more  important  titles  to  speak  for 
themselves  in  the  order  of  publication  : 

1864.  Schiller  im  Englischen  (Deutsch-Amer- 
kanische  Monatshefte). 

1870.  Johannes  Kelpius,  der  Einsiedler  am 
Wissahickon  (Der  Deutsch  Pionier,  Bd.  2). 

187071.  Franz  Daniel  Pastorius  und  die  Grun- 
dung  von  Germantown  in  1683  (Ibid). 

1872.  Francis  Daniel  Pastorius  (Penn  Monthly, 
Jan.  and  Feb.,  1872). 

Phonetic  Laws  and  their  Limits  (Penn 
Monthly,  June,  1872). 

The  King  and  the  Professors  (Penn 
Monthly,  Dec.,  1872). 

1873.  The  Electra  of  Sophocles,  Review  (Penn 
Monthly,  Oct.,  1873). 

1874.  The  First  Anti-Slavery   Protest    (Penn 
Monthly,  July,  1874). 

1875.  Die  Beziehungen  der  Deutschen  zu  den 


56 

Schweden  in  Pennsylvanien  (Der  Deutsche  Pionier, 
Bd.  6). 

1876.  Geschichte  der  Deutschen  Gesellschaft  von 
Pennsylvanien  (Philadelphia,  1876). 

Die  Deutschen  von  Philadelphia  im  Jahr 
1776  (Der  Deutsche  Pionier,  Bd.  8). 

1877.  Deutsch-Amerikanische     Biographie     bis 
zum  Schluss  des  vorigenjahrhunderts  (Der  Deutsche 
Pionier,  Bd.  9,  10,  12). 

1878.  William  Penrfs  Travels  in  Holland  and 
Germany  in  1677  (Pennsylvania  Historical  Society, 
Dec.,  1877). 

188081.  Die  bieden  Christ oph  Saur  in  German- 
town  (Der  Deutsche  Pionier,  Bd.  12,  13). 

1 88 1.  A  Colonial  Monastery  (Century  Maga- 
zine, Dec.,  1881). 

1883.  Ephrata,  eine  Amerikanische  Kloster- 
geschichte  (Der  Deutsche  Pionier,  15, 16,  also  separ- 
ately). 

Die  erste  deutsche  Einwanderung  in 
Amerika  und  die  Grundung  von  Germantown  im 
J'ahre  1683  (Philadelphia). 

1885.  Geschichte  des  Mdnnerchors  in  Philadel- 
delphia  von  1835-1885  (Philadelphia). 

Bilder  aus  der  Deutsch- Pennsylvanien 
Geschichte  (Geschichtsblatter  a.  d.  deutschen  Leben 
in  Amerika,  Bd.  2). 

1888.  The  Hermits  of  the   Wissahickon  (Penn. 
Magazine  of  Hist,  and  Biogr.,  Jan.) 

1889.  Frederick  Augustus  Conrad  Muehlenberg, 
Speaker  of   the   House   of   Representatives  in   the 
First  Congress,  1789  (Penn  Magazine  of  Hist,  and 
Biogr.,  July). 

1890.  The  Relation  of   English   and   German 


57 

Literature  in  the  Eighteenth    Century   (Poet-Lore, 
Feb.,  Mar.) 

German-American  Events,  Principally  of 
Pennsylvania,  collected  and  chronologically  arranged. 
Memoir    of    Israel     Daniel  Rupp*  the 
Historian  (Pennsylvania  Mag.  xi.) 

1893.  The  First  Century  of  German  Printing 
in  America,  1728-1830  (Philadelphia). 

The  value  of  this  work  for  the  study  of  American 
culture  has  not  been  duly  appreciated  beyond  a 
limited  circle,  partly  because  most  Anglo-American 
historians  have  been  inexcusably  slow  in  recognizing 
the  importance  of  the  German  element  in  the  growth 
of  the  great  American  Republic.  Then  too  it 
must  stand  as  an  ineffaceable  reflection  upon  the 
German- American's  interest  in  his  own  history,  that 
Der  deutsche  Pionier,  which  for  years  contributed 
to  the  study  of  German  history  and  culture  in 
America,  was  finally  allowed  to  be  discontinued  for 
want  of  even  a  modest  number  of  subscribers. 

The  German  in  America  has  played  his  part 
most  nobly.  He  tills  to-day  our  richest  farms  and 
turns  the  skilful  hand  in  our  most  important 
trades ;  he  helps  to  fight  our  battles  and  teaches 
us  the  arts  of  war ;  he  develops  American  industry 
and  controls  great  avenues  of  American  com- 
merce ;  he  teaches  us  the  value  of  literature  and 
supplies  us  with  a  new  education  and  a  new  science. 
The  presence  of  10,000,000  Americans  in  our 
population  in  whose  veins  German  blood  flows 
justifies  the  study  of  the  traditions  of  this  sturdy 
race.  It  is  in  emphasizing  the  significance  of  such 
facts  that  the  importance  of  the  work  of  Professor 
Seidensticker  and  those  laboring  in  the  same  field 


58 

has  rendered  its  greatest  service. 

This  brief  survey  has  made  it  apparent  that 
the  traditions  of  German  studies  at  the  University 
of  Pennsylvania  have  been  at  each  revival  epoch  in 
close  touch  with  the  literature  and  science  of  the 
Fatherland  and  have  fostered  truly  national  Amer- 
ican ideals  by  investigating  the  cultural  problems 
of  the  German  settlers  in  his  adopted  Fatherland. 

With  this  heritage  of  German  traditions  it  re- 
mains for  us  to  develop  our  resources  in  accordance 
with  the  most  enlightened  methods  of  the  new 
science  of  linguistics,  which  has  inaugurated  a  new 
epoch  in  the  study  of  language  and  literature. 
Here  is  the  place,  the  University  of  Pennsylvania, 
for  a  distinctively 

AMERICAN  SCHOOL  OF  GERMANICS. 
The  conditions  and  the  resources  are  here  for 
such  an  enterprise.  Bven  a  precedent  is  not  want- 
ing, for  the  Institut  of  Kunze  and  Helmuth  may 
be  regarded  as  a  faint  prototype  of  what  might  be 
developed  in  the  more  distant  future.  What  con- 
ditions !  Here  is  the  cradle  of  German  culture  in 
America,  whence  thousands  of  sturdy  pioneers 
have  gone  forth  breaking  new  paths  to  the  shores 
of  the  Pacific.  Here  too  are  the  descendants  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Pilgrim  and  his  companion  settlers 
still  cherishing  the  traditions  of  their  fathers  and 
preserving  their  ancestral  records  under  the  auspices 
of  the  Pennsylvania  German  Society.  Here  too  is 
the  venerable  German  Society  representing  the 
native  German  element  in  its  untiring  efforts  to 
mediate  between  the  newly  arrived  immigrant  and 
his  new  evironment  and  to  minister  to  the  cultural 
needs  of  the  German-American.  Here  is  one  of 
America's  oldest  Universities  with  its  noble  record 


59 

representing  a  long  line  of  German  and  Anglo- 
American  scholars. 

THE  RESOURCES 

too  are  ample  and  unique,  making  it  possible  for  us 
to  pursue  many  lines  of  investigation  more  advan- 
tageously here  than  in  the  great  university  libraries 
of  Germany.  A  brief  mention  of  these  collections 
will  suffice  to  indicate  their  importance. 

PHILADELPHIA  :  The  Historical  Society  of  Penn- 
sylvania containing  as  a  nucleus  of  its  German- 
Americana  the  Collection  of  Abraham  H.  Cassel 
of  Harleysville.  The  Cassel  Collection  is  enriched 
by  other  gifts  and  purchases. 

The  German  Society's  Library  possesses  also 
rare  German- American  prints  and  a  rich  collection 
of  German  literature  of  the  Ninteeth  Century  per- 
taining to  America. 

The  Philadelphia  Library  (particulary  the  Ridge- 
way  Branch)  has  valuable  material  both  old  and 
new. 

The  Library  of  the  Philadelphia  Turgemeinde 
contains  valuable  files  of  Turner  publications  and 
a  collection  of  German  books. 

Mt.  Airy  Lutheran  Seminary  Library  has  very 
valuable  Lutherana  besides  other  important  docu- 
ments relating  to  the  literary  and  ecclesiastical 
history  of  the  Germans  in  America. 

Private  collections  worthy  of  special  mention  are 
the  following :  Judge  S.  W.  Pennypacker's  rich 
collection  of  old  Germ  an- American  prints  represent- 
ing the  industry  of  many  years  and  great  expense. 
The  Sower  Collection  in  the  possession  of  the 
descendants  of  Christoph  Saur  of  Germantown  con- 
taining valuable  Saur  imprints.  J.  F.  Sachse's 


6o 

collection  of  old  German-American  imprints  and 
other  works  relating  to  the  early  history  of  Colonial 
Pennsylvania,  especially  the  Pietistic  Sects. 

All  these  Library  facilities  are  within  the  limits  of 
Philadelphia,  and  the  University  of  Pennsylvania 
has  taken  account  of  them  in  its  equipment  of  the 
Germanic  Department  by  the  purchase  of 

THE  BECHSTEIN  GERMANIC  LIBRARY, 
which  together  with  the  collection  of  German 
books  (which  I  will  call  the  Seidensticker  Collection), 
purchased  by  the  late  Professor  Seidensticker  with 
money  contributed  by  Germans  of  Philadelphia, 
supplies  the  one  thing  that  was  lacking  to  make 
our  facilities  for  the  scientific  study  of  German 
complete,  viz.  the  critical  philological  and  literary 
apparatus.  Such  apparatus  is  the  characteristic 
feature  of  the  Bechstein  Collection. 

BETHLEHEM  AND  NAZARETH  :  The  Moraviana 
of  Bethlehem  are  second  only  to  the  great  collections 
at  Herrnhut,  Saxony.  The  Malin  Collection  con- 
stitutes the  nucleus  of  the  Moravian  Library  and 
is  rich  in  Hussite  documents  and  related  subjects. 

GETTYSBURG  :  The  Lutheran  Seminary  has  a 
good  collection  of  documents  pertaining  to  the  his- 
tory of  Lutheran  influence  in  America. 

HARRISBURG:  The  State  Library  is  especially 
rich  in  local  history,  which  is  of  great  importance  in 
studying  the  life  and  culture  of  the  German  set- 
tlers of  the  State. 

THE  PROGRAMME 

justified  by  these  traditions  and  resources  is  ample 
and  distinctively  national  and  American : 

The  scientific  study  of  the  Germanic  dialects  of 
America.  High  German  (Swiss,  Suabian,  Bava- 


6i 

rian),  Midland  German    (Prankish,    Saxon),    Low 
German  (Platt  and  Netherlandish),  Norse  (Swedish 
Danish,  Norwegian,  Icelandic).  All  of  these  dialects 
are  represented  as  living  speech  in  America. 

The  study  of  German  literature  in  America 
(German  Literature  written  here  and  the  influence 
of  the  literature  of  Germany  on  our  own). 

The  German  Folk-lore  and  Culture  of  America 
(manners,  customs,  and  other  forms  of  German 
culture  in  American  life). 

These  subjects  lead  naturally  and  necessarily  to 
the  Comparative  Study  of  Germanic  dialects  and 
literatures  of  Europe  through  all  the  periods  of  their 
history.  Thus  we  may  justify  each  step  by  the 
claims  of  our  national  cultural  genealogy. 

It  is  to  the  achievement  of  the  fullest  success 
of  this  School  of  Germanics,  in  the  estimation  not 
only  of  contemporaneous  American  and  European 
scholars,  but  in  the  more  calm  and  severe  judgment 
of  the  future,  that  we  invite  the  Germans  of  the 
City  of  Philadelphia  and  of  the  Country  at  large 
to  lend  their  interest  and  co-operation  by  contri- 
buting serial  publications,  books,  pamphlets  and 
other  material  relating  to  the  Germans  in  America. 

This  is  a  work  in  which  every  German-Amer- 
ican as  well  as  Anglo-American  may  take  part 
without  fear  of  encountering  social,  political  or 
race  prejudice  and  with  the  consciousness  that  he 
is  aiding  in  strengthing  the  bonds  which  unite  the 
two  great  cultures  of  modern  civilization.  Having 
once  formed  such  an  alliance  among  ourselves,  the 
hearts  of  the  Fatherland  will  respond  to  the 
great  work  of  preserving  the  history,  language, 
literature  and  culture  of  the  German  in  America. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

Los  Angeles 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


Form  L9-25m-9,'47(A5618)444 


2733 

P417P3     Pennsylvania 
Uru.  vox's  j.  Ly  • 
Library  - 

Opening  of  the  Deuli- — I 

stein  Germanic   library,' 


Z733 
P417P3 


